How Might We Live? Global Ethics in the New Century

This volume looks outward to the new century and to the dynamics of this first truly global age. It asks the fundamental question: how might human societies live? In contrast to the orthodoxies of academic Philosophy and International Relations in much of the twentieth century, which marginalised or rejected the study of ethics, the contributors here believe that there is nothing more political than ethics, and therefore deserving of scholarly analysis. By exploring in the newest context some of the oldest questions about duties and obligations within and beyond humanly constructed boundaries, the essays help us ponder the most profound question in world politics today: who will the twenty-first century be for?

Table of Contents:
Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; Foreword Christopher Hill; Introduction: how might we live? Global ethics in a new century Ken Booth, Tim Dunne and Michael Cox; 1. Individualism and the concept of Gaia Mary Midgley; 2. Bounded and cosmopolitan justice Onora O'Neill; 3. Globalization from above: actualizing the ideal through law Philip Allott; 4. A more perfect union? The liberal peace and the challenge of globalization Michael W. Doyle; 5. International pluralism and the rule of law Terry Nardin; 6. Towards a feminist international ethics Kimberley Hutchings; 7. Contested globalization: the changing context and normative challenges Richard Higgott; 8. Universalism and difference in discourses of race Kenan Malik; 9. Does cosmopolitan thinking have a future? Derek Heater; 10. Individuals, communities and human rights Peter Jones; 11. Thinking about civilizations Robert W. Cox; Index.

Review :
'This is an impressive, comprehensive treatment of what international relations theorists have learned throughout the 'hot peace' decade that followed the cold war. Self-described realists remind us of the importance of remembering Marx, the social scientist, in this era of triumphal capitalism. Putative Marxists restate the relevance of Kant, the historian and ethicist, in a world in which depoliticizing postmodernists question the substance of triumphal liberalism. And scholars across paradigms emphasize the centrality of classical theorizing to the conflict and inequality of the current world.' Craig N. Murphy, M. Margaret Ball, Professor of International Relations and Chair, Department of Political Science, Wellesley College