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This chapter deals with normative international relations theory, a field of study that relies on a variety of approaches and theories to explore moral expectations, decisions, and dilemmas in world politics. Normative IR theory has adopted—and adapted—conceptual categories such as communitarianism and cosmopolitanism from political theory. It also borrows from moral philosophy to designate different types of ethical reasoning, such as deontology and consequentialism. The chapter begins with an overview of the history, influences, and some of the categories that normative IR theory brings to the study of international relations. It then examines the ways in which normative IR theory engages with the hidden ethical assumptions of a range of IR approaches. The case study considers the ethics of war in the Iraq war.

This chapter discusses the correlation between ethics and global politics. It starts with a myth suggesting that power politics can be conducted without considering morality, especially following the rise of the modern state system. Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532) has served as the ultimate guidebook for leaders and students of politics as it insinuates that European polities’ moral foundations might not be a proper basis for establishing well-run kingdoms and principalities. The chapter then looks at three key traditions of European Enlightenment thought which form the basis of much of the ethical and moral thinking we see at play in contemporary articulations of the good in political decision-making: deontology, utilitarianism, and contractualism. It also examines Confucianism, Ubuntu, and Sumak Kawsay to highlight the various ethical voices and traditions which have sustained political communities across the globe.

This chapter deals with normative international relations theory, a field of study that relies on a variety of approaches and theories to explore moral expectations, decisions, and dilemmas in world politics. Normative IR theory has adopted—and adapted—conceptual categories such as communitarianism and cosmopolitanism from political theory. It also borrows from moral philosophy to designate different types of ethical reasoning, such as deontology and consequentialism. The chapter begins with an overview of the history, influences, and some of the categories that normative IR theory brings to the study of international relations. It then examines the ways in which normative IR theory engages with the hidden ethical assumptions of a range of IR approaches. The case study considers the ethics of war in two scenarios: the war in Iraq, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the border between North and South Korea.