Ethical Reasoning in International Affairs

Mikael Baaz is Senior Lecturer of International Law at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden Chris Brown is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics, UK Molly Cochran is Lecturer in International Relations at Oxford Brookes University, UK Mikulas Fabry is Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA Mervyn Frost is Professor and Head of the Department of War Studies at King's College, London, UK Andrew Hurrell is Montague Burton Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, UK Anthony F Lang Jr. is a Reader in the School of International Relations at St. Andrews University, UK Terry Nardin is Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore Milla Vaha is a Research Student at the European University Institute, Italy Daniel Warner is Founder and former Executive Director of the Centre for International Governance, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, Austria

"This is a varied set of essays, not in quality, which is consistently high, but in the divergent perspectives it presents." - International Affairs "This volume clarifies and develops the potential of middle ground ethics as an approach to normative problem-solving in world politics that is methodologically distinct from both ideal and non-ideal approaches. Mainly located within the English School, these essays offer novel, critical and constructive contributions to reflecting on and resolving international and global problems of the 21st century." - Catherine Lu, McGill University, Canada "This is a superb collection. Bringing together leading figures in international political theory and distinctive emerging thinkers, it highlights the potential of 'middle ground' ethics, seeking insight into complexity through enquiry in the interstices between ostensibly irreconcilable ethical traditions. The merits of this approach are richly demonstrated across issues from war to global order, emerging powers to international law." - John Williams, Durham University, UK "Ethical reasoning is again an important feature of international relations. This book identifies a 'middle ground' with respect to ethical reasoning in international affairs. It builds on the value pluralism of Isaiah Berlin and Hedley Bull: there are conflicts between values and the achievement of the one is often at the expense of the other. How far can 'middle ground' reasoning take us in today's world of changing power relations and harder times for global liberalism? A prominent list of contributors convincingly demonstrate why this is an extremely clarifying approach. The book will be an indispensable tool for all students of ethics in an international context." - Georg Sorensen, Aarhus University, Denmark "This fine collection of essays is essential reading on how the tensions between national interests and cosmopolitan ideals - and between clashing value-systems - are played out in the international society of states." - Andrew Linklater, Aberystwyth University, UK

• 1. The Terrain of the Middle Ground; Cornelia Navari 2. Are We Linguistically Left-Handed? In Search of Responsible, Ethical Subjects; Daniel Warner 3. Realism and Right: Sketch for a Theory of Global Justice; Terry Nardin 4. Middle Ground Ethics and Human Rights; Mervyn Frost 5. Theorizing Secession: What should be the Relationship between the Ideal and the Empirical?; Mikulas Fabry 6. Global Constitutionalism as a Middle Ground Ethic; Anthony Lang Jr. 7. Beyond Order versus Justice: Middle Ground Ethics and the Responsibility to Protect; Mikael Baaz 8. Hedley Bull and John Dewey: Two Middle Grounders and a Pragmatic Approach to the Nuclear Dilemma; Molly Cochran 9. The Ethics of War, Innocence and Hard Cases: A Call for the Middle Ground; Milla Emilia Vaha 10. Authoritarianism, Anti-Imperialism and Intervention: The Precariousness of the Middle Ground; Chris Brown 11. Power Transitions, Emerging Powers and the Shifting Terrain of the Middle Ground; Andrew Hurrell