The Practices of Global Ethics: Historical Backgrounds, Current Issues, and Future Prospects

The Practices of Global Ethics takes a unique look at global ethics: not as mere written statements but as a set of practices undertaken by thousands of organisations and hundreds of thousands of people to shape the normative trajectory of human affairs. It looks at statements of global ethical principles including The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Earth Charter and the Rio Documents and positions them as the outcomes and expression of ongoing practices. Offering innovative, critical and thoughtful analyses of ethical practices since World War II, the book examines efforts to promote human rights; foster ecological responsibility; end genocide; reduce global poverty; encourage responsible and sustainable international business practices; cultivate understanding and collaboration amongst the world’s religions among other worldwide endeavours.

Table of Contents:
Preface; List of Abbreviations; Introduction: The Practices of Global Ethics; PART I: Developing Common Grounds; 1. Human Rights and Globalisation; 2. The Earth Charter; 3. Three Visionary Declarations; PART II: Addressing Global Ethical Issues; 4. Practicing Global Environmental Ethics; 5. Religion, Politics and Genocide; 6. Elements of a Global Ethic with Respect to Armed Conflict; 7. The Practices of Global Ethics with Respect to Poverty; 8. The Globalisation of Business Ethics; PART III: Religions, Religious Issues and The Practices of Global Ethics; 9. The Interfaith Movement: Global and Local Dimensions; 10. The Ethics of Proselytising and Religious Freedom; 11. Towards a Global Ethics for Education about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools; Conclusion: The Practices of Global Ethics, History and Hope; Bibliography; Index.

About the Author :
Frederick Bird is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Concordia University, Montreal, where he was a Professor of Religion and A Concordia Research Chair in Comparative Ethics. His previous publications include International Business and the Challenges of Poverty in the Developing World (Palgrave, 2004). Sumner B. Twiss is Distinguished Professor of Human Rights, Ethics and Religion at Florida State University and Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Brown University. He is former co-editor of the Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics (Now Journal of Christian Ethics) and the Journal of Religious Ethics, and previous book publications include Explorations in Global Ethics: Comparative Religious Ethics and Interreligious Dialogues (Perseus, 2000). Kusumita P. Pedersen is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at St Francis College and a trustee of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions. She is the author of several dozen articles and book chapters and edited a special issue of CrossCurrents (2008) on 'Asceticism Today'. Dr Clark Miller is Associate Director of Consortium Science, Policy & Outcomes at Arizona State University Bruce Grelle is Professor and Director of the Religion and Public Education Project in the Department of Comparative Religion and Humanities at California State University, Chico. He is co-editor of Explorations in Global Ethics: Comparative Religious Ethics and Interreligious Dialogue (Perseus, 2000).

Review :
The culmination of extensive thought, teaching experience and primary research, this perfectly structured work of immense ambition is almost a ready-made course in global ethics.