Course Organization

INTS 3701

Professional Ethics and International Affairs

Fall, 2011

Prof. George DeMartino

Hours: Tues, 12:30 – 3:00

SIÉ CHÉOU-KANG CENTER, Rm. 165

(and by appt.)

George.DeMartino@du.edu

Phone: 1-3089 (though best not to leave a message there)

Course description

Over the course of their careers, graduates of schools of international affairs acquire professional positions in which they enjoy substantial authority and influence over the lives of others, an in which they encounter difficult ethical dilemmas that stem in part from their roles they perform and the expertise they enjoy. And yet, schools of international affairs typically do not offer courses on professional ethics in general, or on the professional ethical challenges that await those who will enter the world of international affairs in particular.

This course is intended to begin to fill this gap in professional training. The course will do the following:

1. Explore the foundations of professional ethics. This initial survey will examine:

a) those aspects of the professions that seem to call forth a particular body of ethical principles. Why have most professions adopted professional ethics (and why has at least one very powerful profession failed to do so)? What/whose purposes do they serve?

and

b) some of the central theoretical concepts and underlying logic of political philosophy that inform the field of professional ethics. In this connection, we will explore the controversy between “deontological” and “consequentialist” ethics; between “objectivist” and “relativist” ethical perspectives; the notion of “virtue ethics”; etc.

2. Survey and assess critically some of the chief ethical principles (and dilemmas) that appear repeatedly across the professions. The survey will comprise principles such as autonomy and informed prior consent, first do no harm, paternalism, conflict of interest, etc. It will also engage the matters of “dirty hands,” “many hands” and other problems that arise in the context of the involvement of the professional in organizations.

3. Examine the application of these principles to international affairs, focusing on the kinds of professional ethical challenges that arise with particular force in this arena. This goal will be achieved through individual research projects in which students select a professional field and explore the relevance of the material of the course in that field. Examples might include corporate practices, intelligence gathering (e.g., surveillance, torture), international medical research/treatment projects, World Bank development projects and economic policy consulting, humanitarian intervention, NGO practices, and so forth.

Course Format, Assignments and Assessment

The material in this course is best approached through a discussion seminar format. I plan to lecture only occasionally. This format requires students to come to each class well prepared to discuss carefully and critically the assigned literature. To that end, I will supply discussion questions in advance of most class sessions which students should consider carefully when preparing for class. Students must write brief reaction papers (40% of final grade) on the assigned readings for any six of the classes that are designated as discussion sessions (marked on syllabus as DS).

Each student is also required to write a research paper of approximately 4000 words that explores a particular case in international affairs and that raises an interesting and challenging question pertaining to professional ethics; or that examines a particular profession (the nature of its expertise and work) and teases out the nature of the ethical challenges that practitioners in that field are apt to face in international affairs. Students will have broad latitude in selecting topics, but students must meet with me to secure approval of their projects by the end of the 6th week of the quarter. The paper is due on Saturday, November 19 at noon (40%). Students will also be assessed on the quality of their class participation (20%).

Learning Objectives

Students who apply themselves to the materials in this course should acquire a capacity to recognize and engage ethical issues that arise in the context of their own work, the institutions they serve, and the work of other professionals. Students should understand the abstract claims that are invoked to ground professional ethical claims—ranging from utilitarian and other consequentialist accounts to deontological and virtue ethics. Students should achieve understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each of these various approaches, and of what each implies in the context of the conduct of the professional. Moreover, students should develop appreciation of some of the central ethical dilemmas that arise in professional practice, such as the matter of “dirty hands” and “many hands.” Finally, students should be able to investigate in an ethically sophisticated way an issue, profession or institution that relates directly to international affairs. My hope is that students will be able to draw on the reasoning and insights of this course in their post-graduate years, as they make their way in careers in the international arena.

Books

I’ve ordered these books through the bookstore, and you may also find many of these on the web. Most readings will be available on e-reserve or on the course Blackboard .Of these, we will be using the Thompson text extensively, and I urged you to buy it. Each is well worth owning.

Guy B. Adams and Danny L. Balfour, Unmasking Administrative Evil, Revised edition, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004. We will use much of this book, so please buy it. Be sure to get the REVISED edition, 2004; NOT the original edition, 1998.

Alan H. Goldman, The Moral Foundations of Professional Ethics, Totowa, NJ, Rowman and Littlefield, 1980. ISBN: 0-8476-6285-3. NB: This text is out of print, but you might find used copies on the internet.

James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 5th edition. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2007. I have assigned just a chapter or two of this book, but I strongly recommend that you buy and refer to this book throughout the course (especially as you write your final papers).

Dennis F. Thompson, Political Ethics and Public Office, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987. We will use a good bit of this text: be sure to buy it.

Janine R. Wedel, Collision and Collusion: The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe. Palgrave, New York, 2001.

Sharon D. Welch, A Feminist Theory of Risk, Revised Edition, Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2000.

Daniel E. Wueste, Professional Ethics and Social Responsibility, Rowman and Littlefield. 1994.

I. Introduction and foundational issues

Week 1: Course Introduction: What will we be doing, and why?

Mon, Sept 12

Optional: This article expresses concern about the ethical behavior of development economists. It also raises a host of issues that we will explore over the course of the quarter.

Joseph Stiglitz, “Ethics, Economic Advice, and Economic Policy.” http://www.iadb.org/etica/sp4321-i/DocHit-i.cfm?DocIndex=541

What is a Professional? What is Professional Ethics, and Do We Need It?

Weds, Sept 14

What is a profession, and why and how are they different from other occupations? Why (if at all) do the professions need separate bodies of ethics to guide their conduct? What obligations does the professional have, and to whom? Why aren’t the general moral obligations that apply to everyone in society sufficient? Are the arguments advanced in defense of professional ethics persuasive?

Daniel E. Wueste, Professional Ethics and Social Responsibility, “Introduction,” pp. 1-35). The essay surveys the debate about just what constitutes professionalism, the necessity for professional ethics, and the complications attending the fact that professionals today generally work in bureaucratic institutions, even though we continue to think of professionals as independent practitioners.

G. DeMartino, The Economist’s Oath, chapter 1, pp. 3-18.

Week 2: On Professionalism, Expertise, Ignorance, and the Need for Professional Ethics: Additional Perspectives

Mon, Sept 19

William May, Beleaguered Rulers: The Public Obligation of the Professional, Louisville, KY, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, “Introduction,” pp. 1-24; and ch. 1, through the first full paragraph on p. 35.

Sharon D. Welch, A Feminist Theory of Risk, Revised Edition, 2000: ch. 1, pp. 13-37; and ch. 2, pp. 39-41 (“The Despair of the Middle Class”) and pp. 45 (beginning with the second full paragraph, to 48). Pay careful attention to what Welch defines as the “ethic of control” and the “ethic of risk.”

Weds, Sept 21

John Hardwig, “Toward an Ethics of Expertise,” in Daniel E. Wueste, Professional Ethics and Social Responsibility, pp. 83-101.

Wendell Berry, The Way of Ignorance, pp. 53-67.

Wes Jackson, “Toward an Ignorance-Based Worldview,” The Land Report, No. 81, Spring 2005, pp. 14-16: http://www.landinstitute.org/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/03/42c0db19e37f4

Optional:

Alan H. Goldman, The Moral Foundations of Professional Ethics, Totowa, NJ, Rowman and Littlefield, 1980: Chapter 1 (Introduction), pp. 1-33.

William J. Gould, “Encroachment, Charlatanism, and the Emerging Profession: Psychology, Sociology and Medicine,” American Sociological Review, Vol. 25, No. 6, December 1960, pp. 902-965.

Week 3: Moral Philosophy as Grounding for Professional Ethics? Basic Terms and Contending Accounts

In one way or another, the debate over the need for and content of professional ethics engages concepts and principles that have emerged in the broader field of moral philosophy. To investigate the professional ethics literature carefully, then, we need to take account of some of the most influential moral perspectives. The themes we encounter here will recur throughout the course.

Mon, Sept 26

Thomas A. Mappes and David DeGrazia. 2001. Biomedical Ethics, 5thed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Ch. 1, “General Introduction,” pp. 1-2; read particularly carefully pp. 4 (beginning with “Recently Dominant Ethical Theories”) to p. 45; we’ll read the section on “paternalism” (pp. 46-50) later in the course.

James Rachels, “A Short Introduction to Moral Philosophy,” in J. Rachels The Right Thing to Do, 5th ed., chapter 1, pp. 1-19.

Weds, Sept 28

Should professional ethics be organized around “principles,” or “virtue”?

Jeffrey W. Bulger, “Principlism,” Teaching Ethics, Fall 2007, pp. 1-20. http://www.uvu.edu/ethics/seac/Bulger-Principlism.pdf

John M. Evans, “A Sociological Account of Principlism, Hastings Center Report 30, no. 5 (2000): 31-8. Available through Penrose at:

http://jc3th3db7e.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=A+Sociological+Account+of+the+Growth+of+Principlism&rft.jtitle=Hastings+Center+Report&rft.au=John+H.+Evans&rft.date=2000-10-31&rft.pub=The+Hastings+Center&rft.issn=0093-0334&rft.volume=30&rft.issue=5&rft.spage=31&rft.epage=38&rft.externalDBID=GHCR&rft.externalDocID=10.2307_3527886

James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 5th ed., ch.12, “The Ethics of Virtue,” pp: 173-190.

Optional

Rosalind Hursthouse, “Virtue Ethics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

First published Fri Jul 18, 2003; substantive revision Wed Jul 18, 2007.

Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie, Ethical Theory and Business, 2nd edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, Inc., pp. 21-49.

Joseph DesJardins and John McCall, Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, 4th ed., Stanford, CT, Wadsworth, 2000, part 1, “Business and Philosophy.”

II. TheMes/Debates in Professional Ethics

Week 4: Autonomy, Rights, and Prior Informed Consent

Often the professional is in a position to take actions that entail some harm (or risk of harm) for others, even if the purpose of the intervention is to help those potentially harmed. This raises many important and difficult questions. One is this: Is there an ethical obligation to secure from those affected by the intervention “prior informed consent”? What do we mean by “informed,” and by “consent”? What if the agent affected is not just a single individual, but an entire community (or nation…)? And is prior informed consent enough when the professional is about to take actions that might harm?

In recent years the principle of harm minimization has been eclipsed in some fields by another—one that emphasizes the autonomy and integrity of those the professional purports to serve. Respect for autonomy implies (or does it?) an ethical obligation to secure from those affected by the intervention “prior informed consent.” But what do we mean by “informed,” and by “consent”? What if the agent affected is not just a single individual, but an entire community (or nation…)? And is prior informed consent enough when the professional is about to take actions that might harm—or is it simply a means of avoiding one’s ethical burdens?

Mon, Oct 3

Ruth Faden and Tom Beauchamp, A History and Theory of Informed Consent, ch. 1, pp. 3-4 (ending at “Principles, Rules, and Rights”), and p. 7 (bottom, beginning at “Respect for Autonomy”) to p. 9 (ending at “Beneficence”).

Wolf, Amanda. Informed Consent: A Negotiated Formula for Trade in Risky Organisms and Chemicals. International Negotiation, 2000, pp. 485-521. (http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=12609170).

Weds, Oct 5

Dennis F. Thompson, ch. 7, “The Ethics of Social Experiments,” in Political Ethics and Public Office, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987, pp. 178-202.

Oonagh Corrigan, “Empty ethics: the problem with informed consent,” Sociology of Health & Illness Vol. 25, no. 3, 2003, 768-792. http://www.brown.uk.com/teaching/HEST5001/corrigan.pdf

Optional:

Wolpe, Paul Root. 1998. “The Triumph of Autonomy in American Bioethics: A Sociological Approach,” in DeVries, R. and J. Subedi (eds.), Bioethics and Society. NJ: Prentice Hall, pp. 38-59.

Wolf, Amanda. “The Emergence and Implementation of the Advance Informed Agreement Procedure.” Governing Global Biodiversity. Philippe G. Le Prestre, ed. Ashgate, 2002.

“Ad hoc Committee on Ethical Standards in Psychological Research,” American Psychological Association. 1973. Ethical Principles in the Conduct of Research with Human Participants. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Read pp. 7-17; middle p. 27-top 58.

Week 5: Conflict of Interest/Corruption/Whistle blowing

Often professionals occupy positions where they can use the powers and privileges that they enjoy for their own benefit. Sometimes the pursuit of their own interests entails the sacrifice of the interests/rights of their clients, employers or the general public; but sometimes it does not. And sometimes it entails the violation of the law; but (again) sometimes it does not. What are we to make of such cases? What is the professional’s responsibility in such cases? We focus here on the case of economic policy consulting.

Tues, Oct 10

Film (in class): Inside Job

This film presents a wonderful overview of some of the causes of the global financial crisis and focuses in particular on the apparent conflict of interest of key players—including leading economists.

Read:

Michael Pritchard, Professional Integrity: Thinking Ethically, pp. 60-66 (section entitled “Conflicts of Interest”).

Michael Davis, “Introduction,” in Michael Davis and Andrew Stark, eds., Conflict of Interest in the Professions, Oxford University Press, 2011. Read from the final paragraph of p. 7 through page 19.

Optional:

Ruth Macklin, “Conflicts of Interest,” in Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie, Ethical Theory and Business, 2nd edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, Inc., pp. 240-246.

Thurs, Oct 12

Wedel, Janine R. Collision and Collusion: The Strange Case of Western Aid to Eastern Europe. Palgrave, New York, 2001, chapter 4, “A Few Good Reformers: The Chubais Clan, Harvard, and “Economic” Aid.” You should read carefully pp. 123-165; the rest of the chapter, though wonderful, is optional.

Optional:

H. George Frederickson, editor, Ethics and Public Administration, 1993, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, chs. 1-4.

Optional, on Corruption:

Mauro, Paolo, “Why Worry about Corruption?” Economic Issues Publication 6, IMF, February 1997. Article provides basic neoclassical view on corruption, with estimates of economic losses. (http://www.imf.org/EXTERNAL/PUBS/FT/ISSUES6/issue6.pdf)

Peter deLeon, Thinking about Political Corruption, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1993. See chapter 2, “A Model of Corruption,” pp. 19-48) which attempts to define corruption, and then survey and respond to views (such as the functionalist account of Merton) that hold that corruption is not a significant problem. Ch. 7 provides an analysis of the Iran-Contra affair (and Bush’s ultimate pardon); and ch. 8 ends with a discussion of what is to be done (the chapter also returns to the theme that corruption should indeed be understood, contra the functionalist approach, as a serious problem).

Paolo Mauro, “The Persistence of Corruption and Slow Economic Growth,” IMF Staff Papers, Vol. 51, No. 1, 2004. Available at: http://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/staffp/2004/01/pdf/mauro.pdf

Dennis, F. Thompson, “Mediated Corruption: The Case of the Keating Five,” The American Science Political Review, Vol. 87, No. 2, June 1993, pp. 369-381. (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0554%28199306%2987%3A2%3C369%3AMCTCOT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5)

Week 6: “First Do No Harm” (Primum non Nocere) and Paternalism

We turn now to two other issues that relate to the power/influence of the professional: First, what risks should the professional take, and how should she balance the potential for benefit against the risk of harm? Second, should the professional take actions on behalf of the client that she knows to be best, even when that might compromise the client’s autonomy? That is, when/to what degree is the professional warranted in acting “paternalistically”?

Mon, Oct 17

Ruth Faden and Tom Beauchamp, A History and Theory of Informed Consent, p. 9, bottom (begin at the heading “Beneficence”) to p. 14 (end at “Justice”).

James D. Shelton, “The Harm of "First, Do No Harm.” JAMA: Journal of the American Medical Association, 284:21 (December 6, 2000), pp. 2687-2688. Available through Penrose at: http://0-jama.ama-assn.org.bianca.penlib.du.edu/content/284/21/2687.full.pdf+html.

Dennis F. Thompson, ch. 6, “Paternalistic Power,” in Political Ethics and Public Office, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987, pp. 148-177.

Weds, Oct 19

Thomas A. Mappes and David DeGrazia. 2001. Biomedical Ethics, 5thed. New York: McGraw-Hill. Ch. 1, “General Introduction,” Review pp. 39-45 (we read this section during week 3 of the course); then read carefully pp. 46-50.

G. DeMartino, The Economist’s Oath, ch. 9, “Economists as Social Engineers: Ethical

Evaluation of Market Liberalization in the South and Transition Economies,” pp. 141-158; and ch. 11, “On Sleeping Too Well,” pp. 186 (begin at “Beyond the Prudential Principle”) to 189 (end at “The Ethical Imperative of Economic Democracy”).

Optional:

Alan H. Goldman, The Moral Foundations of Professional Ethics, Totowa, NJ, Rowman and Littlefield, 1980, ch. 4 “Medical Ethics: The Goal of Health and the Rights of Patients,” pp. 156-229.

G. DeMartino, “A Professional Ethics Code for Economists,” Challenge, July/August 2005, pp. 88-104. http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=17532890

G. R. Dunstan, “The Ethics of Risk,” in Nicholas A. Sims, ed., Explorations in Ethics and International Relations, London: Croom Helm, 1981, ch. 5, pp. 97-110.

Allen E. Buchanan and Dan W. Brock. 1989. Deciding for Others: The Ethics of Surrogate Decision Making, New York: Cambridge University Press, ch. 1, “Competence and Incompetence.”

Benjamin Freedman, “Equipoise and the Ethics of Clinical Research,” in Thomas A. Mappes and David DeGrazia. 2001. Biomedical Ethics, 5thed. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 259-265.

Week 7: Dirty Hands: Lying and Torture

Mon, Oct 24 and Weds, Oct 26

What are we to make of situations in which it appears that the violation of one ethical principle will allow the professional to achieve some “higher” ethical purpose? (We’ve encountered this matter already in the case of paternalism; now we investigate it more broadly). Is lying, cheating, torturing, violating people’s rights, etc. warranted when some vitally important purpose is at stake?

Mon, Oct 24

Winston, Kenneth I. 1994. “Necessity and Choice in Political Ethics: Varieties of Dirty Hands,” in Daniel E. Wueste, ed. Professional Ethics and Social Responsibility. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield: 37-66).

Dennis F. Thompson, ch. 2, “Democratic Dirty Hands,” in Political Ethics and Public Office, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987, pp. 11-39.

Weds, Oct 26

Sissela Bok, 1989. Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. New York: Random House. Chs. 2 (“Truthfulness, Deceit and Trust”), 13 (“Deceptive Social Science Research”) and ch. 14 (“Paternalistic Lies”).

Fritz Allhoff, “An Ethical Defense of Torture in Interrogation,” in Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional, ed, Jan Goldman, 2006, Oxford (UK), Scarecrow Press, pp. 126-140.

Optional:

Jean-Paul Sartre, Dirty Hands, in No Exit and Three Other Plays, trans. Lionel Abel (New York, Vintage, 1960).

Arthur Applbaum, Ethics for Adversaries, ch. 7, “Are Violations of Rights Ever Right?” pp. 136-174.

Charles E. Harris, Jr., Michael S. Pritchard and Michael J. Rabins, Engineering Ethics, Belmont, NY, Wadsworth Publishing, “A Taxonomy of Types of Misusing the Truth,” pp. 190-192.

Michael Skerker, “Interrogation Ethics in the Context of Intelligence Collection,” in Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional, ed, Jan Goldman, 2006, Oxford (UK), Scarecrow Press, pp. 141-170.

Alan H. Goldman, The Moral Foundations of Professional Ethics, Totowa, NJ, Rowman and Littlefield, 1980, ch. 2 (“Political Ethics: Applying the Law and Washing the Dirty Hands.”), pp. 62-76 only.

Optional: On War and Massacre—A Symposium:

Nagel, Thomas, 1979. “War and Massacre”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 2. (Winter, 1972), pp. 123-144. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0048-3915%28197224%291%3A2%3C123%3AWAM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F

R. B. Brandt, “Utilitarianism and the Rules of War,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1, no. 2 (Winter 1972) pp. 145-165. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0048-3915%28197224%291%3A2%3C145%3AUATROW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G. Also in Marshall Cohen, Thomas Nagel and Thomas Scanlon, eds., War and Moral Responsibility, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1974, pp. 25-45. This piece is a critical reaction to Nagel’s piece, immediately above.

Michael Walzer, “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 2. (Winter, 1973), pp. 160-180. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0048-3915%28197324%292%3A2%3C160%3APATPOD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7

(This piece is a reaction to Nagel, Brandt, and Hare.)

Week 8: Many Hands

Sometimes, organizations or institutions do things that we deem to be morally indictable. But in some of these cases, many of the individuals who contribute to this wrong appear themselves not to have undertaken any morally indictable practices. Often, they simply appear to be fulfilling the professional obligations of their profession. In cases such as this, who (or what) is to be held accountable? What moral judgment do we render in the case of the individuals who were simply “doing their jobs,” and whose actions may have been fully in keeping with the ethical code of their own professions? (Historical context: this issue was raised forcefully by Hannah Arendt as she tried to think through the culpability of the many presumably conscientious professionals who contributed to the Holocaust).

Mon, Oct 31

Dennis F. Thompson, ch. 3, “The Moral Responsibility of Many Hands,” pp. 40-65; and ch. 4, “Official Crime and Punishment,” pp. 66-95, in Political Ethics and Public Office, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.

Weds, Nov. 2

Guy B. Adams and Danny L. Balfour, Unmasking Administrative Evil, Revised edition, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2004.

Read: “Introduction and Overview,” pp. xxv-xxviii; ch. 1, “The Dynamics of Evil and Administrative Evil,” pp. 3-24; ch. 2, “Compliance, Technical Rationality, and Administrative Evil,” pp. 25-42; ch. 3, “Administrative Evil Unmasked: The Holocaust and Public Service,” pp. 43-63; ch. 6, “Public Policy and Administrative Evil,” pp. 119-146; and ch. 7, “In the Face of Administrative Evil: Searching for a Basis for Public Ethics,” pp. 147-164.

Optional:

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, NY: Viking Press, 1963, ch. 7.

Manuel G. Velasquez, “Why Corporations are not Morally Responsible for Anything They Do,” in Joseph R. Desjardins and John J. McCall, eds., Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, 2nd ed., Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Co., pp.114-125. (We may read this in week 9).

Nagel, Thomas, 1979. Mortal Questions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ch. 5, “War and Massacre”, pp. 53-74 (first appeared in Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1, No. 2 (Winter 1972); ch. 6, “Ruthlessness in Public Life,” pp. 75-90.

Sanford Levinson, “Responsibility for Crimes of War,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 2, no. 3 (Spring 1973), pp. 244-273. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0048-3915%28197321%292%3A3%3C244%3ARFCOW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1

Investigates the same issues as Thompson, focusing on war crimes. [NO]

Richard P. Nelson, “Arendt’s Action Philosophy and the Manager as Eichmann, Richard III, Faust, or Institutional Citizen,” California Management Review (1999) 26, no.3: 191-20. Persistent Link: http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=4761477

(reprinted in Charles Wilber, ed., Economics, Ethics and Public Policy).

Week 9: On Cultural Relativism and International Affairs

What are we to think and do when we encounter ways of living (such as social practices or institutions) abroad that conflict with our own? What standards should we use to judge these “foreign” practices—especially those practices that are, in our view, abhorrent? Should we presume a universal standard that applies to all communities? Or should we defer to the judgments of others about how they should live? These questions take us into the debate over “cultural relativism.”

Mon, Nov 7

M. Walzer, “Objectivity and Social Meaning,” in M. Nussbaum and A. Sen, The Quality of Life, Clarendon Press, pp. 165-177.

James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 5th ed., ch. 2, “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism,” pp: 16-34.

Wed, Nov 9

G. DeMartino, Global Economy, Global Justice, ch. 4, “Whose Values, Whose Rules?”

Optional:

Lynne M. Healy, 2001. International Social Work. NY: Oxford University Press. Ch. 7, “Values and Ethics for International Professional Action,” pp. 151-169.

George Ulrich, “Charges and Counter-charges of Ethical Imperialism: Towards a situated approach to development ethics,” in Philip Quarles Van Ufford and Ananta Kumar Giri, eds., A Moral Critique of Development, New York, Routledge, 2003, ch. 7, pp. 153-168. NB: On HIV/AIDS testing in the developing world.

Week 10: Topics in Professional Ethics

Mon, Nov 14

Business Management Ethics

Corporations today are among the most important and powerful of institutions—both domestically and internationally. The decisions of corporate managers have extraordinary consequences for the life chances of people across the globe. The corporation is therefore a tremendously useful and important site for the exploration of professional ethics.

What, precisely, is the ethical responsibility of corporate managers? Whose interests can/must they serve? To what degree are the principles that guide them dictated by the competitive environment in which corporations operate? And what can we learn from this case when we think about other kinds of institutions?

Milton Friedman, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits,” New York Times Magazine, September 13, 1970, 32-33 and 122-126. http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Alan H. Goldman, The Moral Foundations of Professional Ethics, Totowa, NJ, Rowman and Littlefield, 1980, ch. 5 (“Business Ethics: Profits, Utilities and Moral Rights”).

Martin Calkins, “The Ethical Lacunae in Friedman’s Concept of the Manager,” Journal of Markets & Morality,Volume 11, No. 2, Fall 2008, pp. 221–238. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Journal-Markets-Morality/211236193.html

Or through Penrose:

http://0-go.galegroup.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DA-SORT&inPS=true&prodId=AONE&userGroupName=udenver&tabID=T002&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=6&contentSet=GALE|A211236193&&docId=GALE|A211236193&docType=GALE&role

Joseph R. Des Jardins, “Virtues and Business Ethics,” in Joseph R. Desjardins and John J. McCall, eds., Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, 2nd ed., Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Co,, pp.54-59.

Amartya Sen. 1993. “Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense” Business Ethics Quarterly, (1999) Vol. 3, Issue 1, pp. 45-54. Available at: http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=6657255

Kenneth E. Goodpaster and John B. Matthews, Jr., “Can a Corporation have a Conscience?” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 60, No. 1, Jan-Feb. 1982, pp. 132-141. Persistent Link: http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=3867996

Optional:

Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1962, pp. 133-136.

Manuel G. Velasquez, “Why Corporations are not Morally Responsible for Anything They Do,” in Joseph R. Desjardins and John J. McCall, eds., Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, 2nd ed., Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Co., pp.114-125.

Douglas Birsch, “The Failure of Friedman’s Agency Argument,” in Joseph R. Desjardins and John J. McCall, eds., Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics, 2nd ed., Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing Co,, pp. 28-36.

Jeanne M. Liedtka, “Feminist Morality and Competitive Reality: A Role for an Ethic of Care,” Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 6, no. 2, 1996, pp. 179-200. Persistent Link: http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=5954030

John Hasnas. 1998. “The Normative Theories of Business Ethics: A Guide for the Perplexed,” Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 8, Issue, 1, pp. 19-42. (review of three predominant approaches to theorizing business ethics, with critique). Persistent Link: http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=207273

James W. Evans, “ Defining Business Ethics: Gender Comparisons of Fortune 500 Companies,” in Karen Paul, ed., Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics and Politics, Lewiston, NY, Edwin Mellen Press, 1991, pp. 123-152. (Explores the striking differences in attitudes between corporate men and women regarding the content of business ethics. Women much more inclined to define corporate responsibility broadly, to include care for others.)

George G. Brenkert. 1998. “Marketing to Inner-City Blacks: Powermaster and Moral Responsibility.” Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 8, Issue 1: pp. 1-18. Persistent Link: http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=207272

Weds, Nov 16

Public Administration

To what degree should public policy makers, administrators and other staff members consider the long-term consequences of their actions? What ethical principles apply and what ethical issues arise in this context? Finally, in respect of the rights of citizens, ought policy makers rely on “incentives” rather than “dictates” in order to bring about good outcomes—or might incentives sometimes mask the exercise of (inappropriate) power?

Jeffrey S. Luke, “New Leadership Requirements for Public Administrators: from managerial to policy ethics,” ch. 7 (pp. 158-182) in James S. Bowman, ed., Ethical Frontiers in Public Management: Seeking new strategies for resolving ethical dilemmas, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1991.

OR:

Arthur Applbaum, Ethics for Adversaries: The Morality of Roles in Public And Professional Life, 1999, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, ch. 9, “Democratic Legitimacy and Official Discretion,” pp. 207-239.

Ruth Grant, “Ethics and Incentives: A Political Approach,” American Political Science Review, Vol. 100, No. 1, February 2006, pp. 29-39. Through Penrose:

http://jc3th3db7e.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Ethics+and+incentives%3A+A+political+approach&rft.jtitle=American+Political+Science+Review&rft.au=GRANT%2C+RUTH+W&rft.date=2006-02-01&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.issn=0003-0554&rft.volume=100&rft.issue=1&rft.spage=29&rft.epage=39&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017%2FS0003055406061983&rft.externalDBID=GAPS&rft.externalDocID=S0003055406061983.

Dennis Thompson, “The Possibility of Administrative Ethics, Public Administration Review, Vol. 45, No. 5, Sept-Oct., 1985: 555-561.

Other Topics

On Public Administration and Global Interconnectedness

H. George Frederickson, editor, Ethics and Public Administration, 1993, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. See chapters 7-8 (on trends, and effects).

On the Effects of Academic Inquiry on the World (and the attending ethical duties of academics)

Oscar Salemink, “Social Science Intervention: Moral versus political economy and the Vietnam War,” ch. 8 in G. Ulrich, editor, A Moral Critique of Development, pp. 169-193.

On The Ethics of “Whistle Blowing”

Sissela Bok, “Whistleblowing and Professional Responsibility,” New York University Education Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 4 (1980), pp. 2-7. Reprinted in Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie, eds., Ethical Theory and Business, 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall Inc., pp. 261-9.

A.F. Westin, “What Can and Should be Done to Protect Whistle Blowers in Industry?” in Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie, eds., Ethical Theory and Business, 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall Inc., pp. 270-275. (For a fuller treatment of whistle blowing, see A.F. Westin, ed., Whistle Blowing! Loyalty and Dissent in the Corporation, New York, McGraw Hill, 1981.

On International Business

How do our answers to the questions raised in our discussion of business management ethics when we consider the multinational corporation—corporations that operate in various ethical, economic and political contexts? Whose rules and norms should govern when a firm in one country invests in another (with different norms)? For example, should we condemn or celebrate corporate managers who build and run “sweatshops” that profit from the poverty wages that prevail abroad? And again, what might we take from this case that might help us to think about the ethical obligations of other kinds of institutions in the global arena?

Krugman, Paul, “In Praise of Cheap Labor,” Slate, March 20, 1997.

(http://www.slate.com/id/1918)

Richard DeGeorge, “U.S. Firms in South Africa,” in Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie, eds., Ethical Theory and Business, 2nd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall Inc., pp. 285-292.

Charles P. Kindleberger, “Social Responsibility of the Multinational Corporation,” in

Manuel Velasquez, “International Business, Morality and the Common Good,” Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 1 (July 1992), pp. 27-40. http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=5953960

Thomas Donaldson, “Values in Tension: Ethics away from Home,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 74, No. 5, Sept-Oct. 1996, pp. 48-62. http://0search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=9609167696

S. Prakash Sethi and Oliver F. Williams, “Creating and Implementing Global Codes of Conduct: An Assessment of the Sullivan Principles as a Role Model for Developing International Codes of Conduct—Lessons Learned and Unlearned,” Business and Society Review, 2000, 105:2, pp. 169-200. Through Penrose:

http://0-search.epnet.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu:80/login.aspx?direct=true&db=buh&an=3348718

Richard T. De George, “Ethical Dilemmas for Multinational Enterprise: A Philosophical Overview,” in W. Michael Hoffman, Ann E. Lange and David A. Fedo, eds., Ethics and the Multinational Enterprise, Lanham, NY: University Press of America, pp. 39-46.

S. Prakash Sethi, and Oliver Williams, “Codes of Conduct for Global Business: Prospects and Challenges of Implementation,” Business and Society Review, vol. 105, no. 2 (Summer 2000). Through Penrose: http://0-onlinelibrary.wiley.com.bianca.penlib.du.edu/doi/10.1111/0045-3609.00077/pdf

Thomas W. Dunfee and Yukimasa Nagayasu, Business Ethics: Japan and the Global Economy, Boston, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1993. See ch. 3, “The Role of Ethics in International Business,” by Thomas Dunfee.

On Development Ethics

Philip Quarles Van Ufford and Ananta Kumar Giri, editors, A Moral Critique of Development, London: Routledge, 2003.

INTS 3701: Paper Instructions

The following provides instructions for all the written assignments required of you during this course. Please review and follow them carefully. And please see me in advance of writing if you have any questions about what is required of you.

Instructions for Short Reaction Papers

During the quarter students must submit six short “reaction” papers that examine one theme from the assigned reading for a particular class session. Students may select those classes (from among those marked on the syllabus as DS) when they will complete these papers. The papers are due at the start of the class meeting when the literature will be discussed. Late papers will not be accepted. These papers should be about 600-700 words in length. They are intended to prepare students for class discussion.

In your short papers, you should identify just ONE theme, concept or question that provokes or perplexes you, or that deserves careful treatment/discussion. You should identify the theme, explicate the relevant passages from the assigned literature carefully, and then engage the ideas that you have raised. In such a short paper, there is no need to include an introduction and a conclusion. Emphasis should instead be placed on analytical precision. Stay focused—no room to digress in 600 - 700 words! Approximately 2/3 (or more!) of your essay should explicate the literature. Though your critique/engagement with the literature cannot be lengthy, it should be careful. Moreover, given that the purpose of the paper is to prepare you for discussion, your essay might usefully conclude with one or more questions related to your theme that the material raises in your mind. Has the author pursued a line of argument that you find troubling or otherwise problematic? Is it internally inconsistent in important respects? Are there implicit arguments lurking here that ought to be brought out? Is something important missing from the author's argument? BUT BEWARE: avoid oversimplifying an argument (creating a ‘straw man’) in order to make it more susceptible to criticism. Keep in mind finally that you'll have a chance to argue points in our discussion that you might not have been able to fit into your paper. And keep in mind that you’re not expected to reach a definitive conclusion in these papers. Explicate, probe, inquire—that’s what I’m looking for.

Instructions for Lengthier Paper (DUE: Noon on Saturday, November 19th, at 12 noon). Late papers will be severely penalized.

The longer paper should run 4,000 words or so. It should examine a particular case (historical or contemporary), profession or dilemma that relates to international affairs. Some Examples: Which ethical principles (if any) should govern in the case of intelligence gathering? Is torture ever ethically justifiable? Is an academic—a psychologist or an anthropologist, for instance—ethically licensed to assist the military in interrogating prisoners? Are corporate managers indictable for pursuing strategies or practices abroad that are deemed illegitimate at home? What principles should govern the public health researcher in his/her fieldwork in the global South? Is an NGO professional warranted in lying to donors if revealing the truth about local corruption or waste might imperil the NGO’s agenda? Ideally, each student should explore a topic that relates to his/her intended career in international affairs.

Alternatively, the paper might explore in greater depth any of the abstract themes that relate to professional ethics that appear in the course (e.g., does the principle of “prior informed consent” have any purchase in cases of public policy, where an entire community is affected by the action, rather than simply in cases of one-on-one service provision/experimentation? When if ever is “paternalism” warranted in public policy formation?)

Please choose your topic in the first few weeks of the course. I will list these on the class blackboard, so that students can assist each other in finding relevant material. Come see me no later than week 6 to discuss your paper.

Citations:

Please use in-text references in all your written work during this course, such as:

One prominent critic of Reich argues that his classification of jobs in the contemporary economy is "hopelessly incomplete" (Smith 1992, 23).

(where 23 refers to the page where this passage can be found, 1992 is the publication year and Smith is the author).

Reference List:

For the longer papers, the body of the paper should be followed by a reference list where all works cited in the paper are fully listed, as in:

References

Smith, A. 1992. "Employment Patterns in the US Economy," Journal of Economic Issues, 7(1), Spring: 18-37.

(Please use one of the assigned articles as a guide to constructing a reference list).

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