The ethics of diplomatic criticism

The Responsibility to Protect, Just War Theory and Presumptive Last Resort

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6060586
AutoresJames Pattison (0000-0002-6938-2321, University of Manchester, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume21
Fascículo4
Páginas935-957
Data de publicação2015-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEuropean Journal of International Relations (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1354-0661 • E-ISSN: 1460-3713
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1354066115572491
PMID30262991
OpenAlexW2153901328
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas45

This article presents the ethical case for diplomatic criticism as a response to mass atrocities and serious external aggression. It argues, in short, that states have a moral duty to criticise the offending parties. More specifically, it argues that diplomatic criticism is often a plausible and preferable alternative to other means of addressing serious external aggression and mass atrocities (such as war, economic sanctions and other diplomatic measures). It also argues that diplomatic criticism is often preferable to doing nothing, and that even if other means are undertaken, states should engage in diplomatic criticism as well. There are two subsidiary aims of the article. The first is to reject some of the worries surrounding international hypocrisy — I aim to show that even hypocritical diplomatic criticism may be obligatory. The second is to highlight the impact on Just War Theory of considering in more detail the ethical issues raised by the alternatives to war, such as diplomatic criticism, and, more specifically, to present a new account of the last resort principle, which I call ‘Presumptive Last Resort

Criticism · Diplomacy · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Human rights · International relations · Just war theory · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Responsibility to Protect · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Philosophy · War, Ethics, and Justification