Instruments of International Politics

Extract

The starting point for any serious attempt to relate ethics to foreign policy is the examination of the phenomena of international politics. Once a few very general principles and concepts have been set out by the theologian or ethicist it becomes necessary to turn to the subject matter to which international ethics addresses itself, international politics, in order to make normative goals concrete and meaningful and in order to identify at least the more prominent obstacles to the infusion of ethical values into the conduct of international relations.