Research “Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought.” John Rawls My research interests focus on questions of international ethics and the intersection between these ethical issues and international relations theory. I am particularly interested in the role of private actors and the implications of these actors for theorizing the public/private divide within the international system. Current Projects: (1) Just War Theory and the Privatization of War The growing privatization of warfare challenges the relevance of our traditional thinking about justice and war. The increased significance of private military corporations – both in terms of their numbers and the functions they perform – creates new moral complexities. While their role in Iraq is particularly visible, private military corporations have taken part in conflicts worldwide, in response to demands from states of varying capabilities, non-governmental actors, corporations, and rebel movements. In functional terms, private military corporations have participated in UN peacekeeping operations, staved off coups, provided military support, and taken part in combat. These growing numbers of private military corporations are performing functions closely associated with the conduct of war. Those associated with private military corporations, neither fully soldiers nor completely noncombatants, operate largely outside of public view and occupy a nebulous position vis a vis international law. Contemporary incarnations of just war theory assume an international system in which states are the most significant political actors, and dictate ethical approaches accordingly. This is true even though the international system now contains a number of actors with the capabilities to perform many functions traditionally carried out by states, including but not limited to private military corporations. The decentralization taking place in the global political system prompts some scholars, following James Rosenau, to refer to the current world order as "postinternational." While the state continues to hold a privileged place in the international system, it faces increasing competition with respect to a number of its functions, most significantly with respect to security. Despite the statism of its contemporary incarnations, just war theory has ancient roots that predate the emergence of the state. This means that the tradition of just war thinking is not inherently tied to the Westphalian state system, even if its current practice is heavily invested in this system. As such, it can apply to the conflict in the international system despite the changes. Successfully applying just war theory to contemporary conflicts, and particularly to conflicts in which private military corporations are active, will require rethinking the public/private divide. Outsourcing War does so by delving into particular cases arising primarily out of the current war in Iraq where private military corporations have raised problems of justice and war and deriving from those cases the modifications necessary to effectively apply principles of just war theory to privatization in war. (2) Ethics and International Relations (textbook project under contract to Lynne Rienner Publishers) Issues of international ethics are assuming greater importance both in the study and practice of international relations. With respect to the study of international relations, the once-great gap between international relations and political theory has narrowed. In terms of policy, problems that raise normative questions, once relegated to the margins of the discipline, have come to be recognized as central issues of international relations. In recognition of this narrowing divide, this textbook considers ethical questions but does so within the broader context of international relations. This text will draw upon a problem-oriented approach to international ethics that uses real-world questions to make sense of contending ethical approaches. (3) The International Criminal Court: Cosmopolitan Justice in a World of States No institution better captures the promise of and obstacles to cosmopolitan justice than the International Criminal Court. The Court's statute sets out a cosmopolitan vision of international justice in which all individuals are held to a single standard of justice. If this vision is fully implemented, all individuals who are perpetrators or victims of crimes within the ICC's jurisdiction will be treated uniformly. The ICC provides a second chance at prosecution when states are unwilling or unable to implement these principles of international criminal law. At the same time, the ICC's ability to fulfill this promise has a double-sided relationship to the dynamics of the state system. On one hand, states have empowered the ICC by drafting, signing, and ratifying the Rome Statute in numbers significant enough to render the court operational. On the other hand, the ability of the court to function is, at times, impeded by the dynamics of the state system. In this project, I consider the possibilities of the ICC's moral cosmopolitanism in a statist international system. Selected Publications: Rethinking the 21st Century, with Laura Sjoberg Zed website: http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/book.asp?bookdetail=4281 Buy from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Rethinking-21st-Century-Problems-Solutions/dp/1848130074/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218562962&sr=8-1 The twenty-first century quickly demonstrated that it was a century of very different threats than the one on which it followed. The shocking attacks of September 11, 2001, carried out by a terrorist organization, put the US and the rest of the world on notice that the greatest threats could come from the most unexpected sources. A few years into this new century, other threats from equally unlikely sources populate the security agenda. These new threats, exemplified by North Korea and its weapons program, the potential avian flu epidemic, and environmental degradation differ starkly from the Cold War era, when threats emanated from great powers. Just as these threats require new strategic thinking, they also require new ethical reasoning. The ethical norms of the international arena, including human rights standards and laws pertaining to armed conflict, evolved in that era of great power threat. While they have continued relevance to this new international landscape, they need to evolve with the new realities of the international system. This book is a contribution to the effort of adapting ethical reasoning to the new security landscape. Though there has been no shortage of work on ethical approaches to 21st-century warfare, the great majority of it has focused narrowly on the tenets of just war theory or on the moral statements of current leaders in foreign-policy. This project looks to get away from that narrowness and reinvigorate the timeless tenets of political philosophy for their contributions to current security problems. It is based implicitly on the argument that scholars of international security are so caught up in the newness of their current dilemmas that they are failing to take advantage of older ethical literatures that make a real contribution to understanding "new" problems. It does so by applying the insights of ancient, Enlightenment, and 20th century ethical theories to the 21st century's "new" security dilemmas. "Obligations beyond National Borders: International Institutions and Distributive Justice," Journal of Global Ethics, vol 4., no. 1 April 2008) http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=1744-9626&volume=4&issue=1&spage=67 "Peoples and Persons: Moral Standing, Power, and the Equality of States," International Studies Quarterly, vol. 50, no. 4 (December 2006) http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118569744/abstract |