Global ethics and global strangers beyond the inter-national relations framework: an essay in descriptive ethics

Discussions of global ethics--about the types of normative claim made on groups and individuals (not only states), by groups and individuals around the world-- must move beyond the categories inherited in the International Relations discipline. Many important positions are not captured by a framework developed for discussion of inter-state relations. The blindspots seem to reflect an outmoded expectation that (i) giving low normative weight to national boundaries correlates strongly with (ii) giving more normative weight to people beyond one's national boundaries, and vice versa; in other words that these two dimensions in practice reduce to one. The paper develops and illustrates a considerably enriched categorization. We need to distinguish various types of 'cosmopolitan' position, by recognizing the separate importance of the two dimensions; and to note and investigate many varieties of libertarian position which give neither national boundaries nor pan-human obligations much (if any) importance