Tem

APR 5

Audio from class: [1] [2]

The Moral Foundations of Social Conservatism and Nationalism (Trumpism)

• Major demographics of current political scene: fate of non-STEM economy, rural working whites earning depressed, suicide epidemic in this demographic; US in foreign military interventions with bad or ambiguous outcomes.

• The following is a pretty general "CFLAS" analysis of both traditional conservatism and more recently nationalist versions. Important not to assume that all conservatives or all nationalists believe everything below.

• Care/Harm: primary arena for promoting care is within family structure and private associations. Rejects collective movements to prevent group harms (civil rights).
• Fairness/Cheating: For conservatives, a more proportional than egalitarian way of looking at this. Gov't regulation unfair to elites who deserve more respect and authority, Gov't spending unfair redistribution to those often perceived as undeserving.
• Loyalty/Betrayal: Differential success of workers in stem economy feels like betrayal. Multilateralism in international politics also.
• Authority/Subversion: Sensitivity to police over Black Lives Matter; more willing to allow powerful to be authoritative (plutocracy); perceives collective regulatory action as limitation of authority of elites.
• Sanctity/Degradation: Shift from sanctity of environment, to seeing (among isolationist) "impurity" in immigration, advocacy of white cultural identity.

• Random bumper sticker on a truck in downtown Spokane, seen just after election: Annoy a Liberal. Work. Succeed. Be happy.

Singer, One World Now, Ch 3, "One Law"

• Issues addresses: genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes, crimes against humanity. Cites biblical source authorizing genocide against the Midianites. Pretty typical for pre-ag humans. 125 detail This is the 1st reason.
• Pinker hypothesis in Better Angels of Our Nature: violence down globally by every measure.
• 2nd reason: groups don't need much of a cause to commit violence
• 3rd reason: human historical tribal violence seems to fit with evolutionary predictions: kill the men, boys, and most of the women, capture the virgins.
• Chimps have similar capacity for violence. Countervailing force: We're also good at making relationships (note relevant moral foundations). cites difficulty in getting European soldiers to kill each other.
• Conclusion he draws: You need a bigger authority to create fear of punishment.

• Rise of Inter'l Criminal Law

• Nuremberg, 1984 Conventional Against Torture,
• Problem of universal jurisdiction, history of cases 131: Eichmann, Hissene Habre, Pinochet
• 2001 Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction. - still, potential to politicize judicial process. structural problem.
• better strategy might be international criminal courts. 1998 ICC. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Handled Milosevic case in the Hague, which is where ICC is. US relationship to the treaty. 136
• 2006 Thomas Lubanga case, Congo. child soldiers, atrocities

• From Judicial intervention after the fact to "responsibility to protect"

• what is criterion for intervention (in the sovreignty of another country): "shock to the conscience" problems of subjectivity in both directions: false positives/negatives.
• Kofi Anan: UN charter commits to standard of protection of civilians.141
• work of ICISS commission to address this question, "responsibility to protect" accepted at 2005 UN Summit.
• Invoked in Cote d'Ivoire election standoff with Laurnet Gbagbo. Libyan case 148.
• Does a state need the UN Security council to approve intervention: Anan raised question hypothetically in relation to Rwanda.
• Some limits to UN model under current charter. Obligated to respect state sovereignty. Reconciling intervention with charter depends upon any of three possibilities:

• 1. Violating human rights is a threat to peace.
• 2. Tyranny is a threat to peace.
• 3. Sovereignty doesn't include committing crimes against the ruled.

• 1. Violating human rights is a threat to peace.

• Used in 91 Iraq, 90s Somalia, 04 Haiti 11 Libya
• Singer is sympathetic to the consequentialist thinking behind this claim, but thinks it is a fiction and likely to be abused.

• 2. Tyranny is a threat to peace.

• Similar problem here. There are counterexamples ("democratic" states that still commit crimes against citizens), but general problem is same as 1. too broad a standard. No strong theory of link between democracy and peace.

• 3. Sovereignty doesn't include committing crimes against the ruled.

• best standard, supported by ICISS, tight connection to UN charter language.

• Does democracy prevent genocide?

• Rwanda moving toward democracy, but most cases not democratic states. 157

• Does Military intervention cause more harm than good?

• Good example might be Iraq, (650,000 dead) in which intervention created a political vacuum. A failed state. Also Libya.

• Cultural Imperialism, Relativism and a Global Ethic

• mistake to argue that all forms of intervention are imperialism. complete relativism doesn't make sense. Must be possibility of argument across cultures. Respecting a culture and critiquing it are compatible activities
• right to intervene & duty to intervene.
• UN reform: Security Council veteos dont' make sense anymore. Super majorities might.
• problem with General Assembly. Represents states, not populations. 170

Group Discussion

• Locate your views in relation to our discussion of both the moral appeal of isolationism and conservatism and Singer's advocacy of a form of world government. Keep track of questions and concerns that arise in the discussion. Report on Google group form.