Ethical traps in international relations

TY - JOUR

T1 - Ethical traps in international relations

AU - Lebow, Richard Ned

AU - Frost, Mervyn

PY - 2019/3/1

Y1 - 2019/3/1

N2 - We elaborate a little noticed strategy generally used by weaker actors both in domestic and international politics: the ethical trap. Actors who fall into such traps lose ethical standing and influence at home as well as abroad. We explore the concept of the trap and distinguish it from policy interventions and escalation in which there is no deliberate enticement. We document historical instances of successful ethical trapping both within states and between them. We also discuss traps that were not sprung. We contend that ethical traps have become an increasingly salient feature of contemporary asymmetrical warfare both within states and internationally. We conclude with some propositions about the global practice in which ethical traps are set and the conditions in which they are likely to succeed and some observations about the relative vulnerability of liberal and non-liberal regimes to these traps. This in turn says something important about the practical consequences of ethical violations in international affairs.

AB - We elaborate a little noticed strategy generally used by weaker actors both in domestic and international politics: the ethical trap. Actors who fall into such traps lose ethical standing and influence at home as well as abroad. We explore the concept of the trap and distinguish it from policy interventions and escalation in which there is no deliberate enticement. We document historical instances of successful ethical trapping both within states and between them. We also discuss traps that were not sprung. We contend that ethical traps have become an increasingly salient feature of contemporary asymmetrical warfare both within states and internationally. We conclude with some propositions about the global practice in which ethical traps are set and the conditions in which they are likely to succeed and some observations about the relative vulnerability of liberal and non-liberal regimes to these traps. This in turn says something important about the practical consequences of ethical violations in international affairs.

KW - asymmetric warfare

KW - ethical traps

KW - ethics

KW - foreign policy

KW - terrorism

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058849472&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0047117818808568

DO - 10.1177/0047117818808568

M3 - Article

SN - 0047-1178

VL - 33

SP - 3

EP - 22

JO - International Relations

JF - International Relations

IS - 1

ER -