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About the author: Monica Davis is a master in Literature at Maryland University. She is currently working as one of the best writers at topwritingservice.com/resume-services-online/ She also studies male psychology.

Ethical Norms in Foreign Policy

The foreign policy is based on the international relations that often do not correspond to the ethical standards. During many years, scholars have worked on the ethical behavioral principles of the states, institutions, and nations. Constructivism is one of the schools that thoroughly investigates the role of ethics in the foreign policy and criticizes the actions of some countries, which allow themselves to violate the established ethics. Thus, it is sensible to the constructivism school of ethics as the one oriented on the elimination the problem and such that forms the concepts that regard appropriate behaviors of the countries in reference to the customs, religions, and national identity of other peoples that support the ethical principles in the foreign policy.

Constructivism School is one of the primary schools of ethics that concerns the foreign policy issues. It strongly emphasizes on the diplomatic initiatives regarding the international relations and foreign policy where every country has appropriate significance and influence. As for these aspects, it would be relevant to concentrate on the relation of ethical principles of national identity to the foreign policy. Constructivists assert that all states develop their national identity in different ways, paying significant attention to the cultural aspects. Consequently, the national identity and the respect of it are the driving forces what should guide the international interactions that form a core of the foreign policy.

The school proves that it is important to support the ethical principles in relation to the national identity because it is actually a more powerful tool than following the illegal policy or invasions. The current situation demonstrates that the growth of the political power is tied to the intentions to demonstrate the personal advantages and establish superiority of one nation over another that contradict the ethical aspects. A national identity is also strongly oriented on the religious aspects that are often involved in the international relations. Constructivism states that religious aspects should be also taken into consideration in the foreign policy because unethical behavior of a state in this field can cause problems between nations and induce the development of violence (Guzzini, 2000). The crucial aspect is to respect the cultural peculiarities and entitle them with a specific role in determining the international space (Kubalkova, 2001). Constructivism outlines that the foreign policy concentrates on such elements as history, culture, and religion because of their strong influence on the formation of corporate entities including states but is not restricted by them.

Xavier Guillaume mentioned that to have a deeper insight into the applicability of constructivism ethics to the foreign policy, it is important to focus on the shared values and norms, as well as those of each separate state. These items have become the core aspects of the countries of EU foreign policies (Bulley, 2010). The specialist in the area Kubalkova (2001) explains that the new concept orients on the extension of the norms in the international system. These concern the ethical behavior of people in the foreign policy. The concept highlights the normative issues, emphasizing on the specific aspects of the international relations and helps to investigate whether these norms correspond to the particular traditions important to the foreign policy establishment. In case the actions coincide with the norms, the ethics principles will be followed appropriately (Guzzini, 2000). If the actions do not correspond to norms, the ethical standards require closer attention and formation of an effective strategy to regulate them (Bulley, 2010). Such approach gives an opportunity to induce actors to correct actions and make them more eligible and ethically appropriate.

The crucial aspect on which the followers of the constructivism school concentrate is whether the application of the norms can give the appropriate result (Kubalkova, 2001). Bulley (2001) when citing Alder and numerous other experts say they are sure that it is possible to create the bridge between the analytical and normative theories reflected in the correspondence of communitarian aspects to the foreign policy (Bulley, 2010). Alder also sees constructivism as a moral reasoning in the foreign policy and in case of the application of the efficient norms and ideas, it could help to avoid the mistakes of the previous generations that rooted in the critical aspects and boosted the disjunction between political power and ethics (Bulley, 2010).

Constructivism school supports the assumption that the international actors put in the center of relations, interests, and identities play a significant role in the formation of the appropriate foreign policy. The constructivists reject grounding of the interests and identities objectives on the material forces but adhere to focusing ideas on the ethical aspects (Kubalkova, 2001). Thus, to reach the implementation of effective ethical principles in the foreign policy, it is important to combine the goals, ideas, and actors and involve them in the social interaction.

As for the current political situation in the world, the constructivists consider that states should change their position concerning what is regarded as ethical acts because of the modification of the international normative. The appropriate example is the justification by the U.S. and the United Kingdom of their 2003 invasion into Iraq (Hudson, 2005). They considered that such actions did not contradict to the morally upstanding principles. However, the United Nation Security Council refused to support this intervention noticing that the actions of the U.S. are unacceptable and should orient more on the ethical standards when it comes to the foreign policy (Bulley, 2010). The constructivism school supports the view that the international community should implement the additional principles that will support the promotion of the ethical policy in the U.S. relations with other countries. Regarding the fact that interventions in Iraq were led by the U.S. and the position of the country as economic and military power in the international system is firm, it is viable to consider that the actions of America can become the ground for the development of ethically essential aspects in the world politics (Hudson, 2005). Thus, it is time to correct the approach of the country by inducing it to orient more on the appropriate ethical principles (Kubalkova, 2001). However, today it is obvious that just applying these is insufficient and it is unacceptable to be guided merely by them in the world politics.

 

Analyzing the applicability of the constructivism ethics to the foreign policy it becomes obvious that its main principles are basing on the norms, which should support states during the cooperation. The followers of the constructivist school regard the foreign policy through the lens of traditions and culture grounded on the idea of national identity. The constructivists argue that international order is a part of a normative model that is a stimulus of development of ethical principles in the foreign policy. Today, the constructivism school thoroughly inspects how the U.S. develops its policy focusing on the correspondence of the legitimate state actions to the concept of the international society. However, the applied approach is ineffective and demands the significant remodeling.

 

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Uploaded on February 24, 2021