Moral Agency and the Politics of Responsibility

by Cornelia Ulbert (Editor), Peter Finkenbusch (Editor), Elena Sondermann (Editor), Tobias Debiel (Editor)

Overview

At a time when globalization has side-lined many of the traditional, state-based addressees of legal accountability, it is not clear yet how blame is allocated and contested in the new, highly differentiated, multi-actor governance arrangements of the global economy and world'society. Moral Agency and the Politics of Responsibility investigates how actors in complex governance arrangements assign responsibilities to order the world and negotiate who is responsible for what and how.

The book asks how moral duties can be defined beyond the territorial and legal confines of the nation-state; and how obligations and accountability mechanisms for a post-national world, in which responsibility remains vague, ambiguous and contested, can be established. Using an empirical as well as a theoretical perspective, the book explores ontological framings of complexity emphasizing emergence and non-linearity, which challenge classic liberal notions of responsibility and moral agency based on the autonomous subject. Moral Agency and the Politics of Responsibility is perfect for scholars from International Relations, Politics, Philosophy and Political Economy with an interest in the topical and increasingly popular topics of moral agency and complexity.

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND) 4.0 license.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138707436
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/13/2017
Series:	Routledge Global Cooperation Series
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Cornelia Ulbert is Executive Director at the Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Peter Finkenbusch is a Researcher at the Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Elena Sondermann is a Researcher at the Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Tobias Debiel is Professor of International Relations and Development Policy at the Institute of Political Science and Director of the Institute for Development and Peace as well as the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Moral Agency and the Politics of Responsibility

Part I: Challenging Traditional Notions of Moral Agency and Responsibility

2. Democratic Moral Agency: Altering Unjust Conditions in Practices of Responsibility
3. Promoting Responsible Moral Agency: Enhancing Institutional and Individual Capacities
4. Technologically Blurred Accountability? Technology, Responsibility Gaps and the Robustness of our Everyday Conceptual Scheme

Part II: Demanding and Contesting Responsibility in the International Community

5. The Lack of ‘Responsibility’ in the Responsibility to Protect
6. Responsibility Contestations: A Challenge to the Moral Authority of the UN Security Council

Part III: Practising the Politics of Responsibility in Global Governance

7. In Search of Equity: Practices of Differentiation and the Evolution of a Geography of Responsibility
8. The Business of Responsibility: Supply Chain Practice and the Construction of the Moral Lead Firm
9. Pluralisation of Authority in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding: The Re-Assignment of Responsibility in Polycentric Governance Arrangements

Part IV: De-Constructing Responsibility in an Interconnected World

10. Responsibilising through Failure and Denial: Governmentality as Double Failure
11. Bringing Therapeutic Governance Back Home: US Responsibility and Drug-Related Organised Crime in the Americas
12. Distributed Responsibility: Moral Agency in a Non-Linear World
13. Conclusion: Practising the Politics of Responsibility

Editorial Reviews

"This wide-ranging, pluri-disciplinary, and insightful collection analyses the complex, frequently contested relations between moral agency, the conditions for its development; the mechanisms for holding agents accountable and responsible; and changing economic and political practices. Its authors develop different theoretical perspectives and explore diverse cases and, together, make important contributions to international relations, political economy, and governance studies." – Bob Jessop, Lancaster University, UK

"Through compelling empirical cases and sophisticated theoretical analyses, the contributors to this valuable volume demonstrate that responsibility is something that is necessarily and vigorously contested. By addressing the complex political, social, economic, and technological contexts within which the concepts of moral agency and responsibility are negotiated and renegotiated, they succeed in enhancing our understanding of both." – Toni Erskine, University of New South Wales, Australia

"What is it to be ‘responsible’ in today’s global world? Who is (made) responsible, for what, to whom, how, when, and to what purpose? The probing debates in this volume greatly clarify these issues, in particular the high-stakes ethics and politics involved." – Jan Aart Scholte, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

"This timely book investigates the politics and contestations surrounding the notion of "responsibility" which has become a rather prominent topic in world politics (e.g. in the "responsibility to protect"). The authors approach the subject from a variety of critical perspectives, thereby taking a decidedly agency-centered perspective. A must-read for both academics interested in and practitioners of global governance." – Thomas Risse, Free University Berlin, Germany

"This excellent collection offers a compelling range of perspectives on the politics of responsibility – the conditions under which responsibility arises; who can exercise it; and the roles it plays in international relations. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the development of contemporary conceptions of moral agency and practices of responsibility." – Kirsten Ainley, LSE, UK

"Responsibility is one of the most contested notions in international relations. Unsurprisingly, I disagree with some of this first-rate team of contributors. But their provocative and thoughtful reflections must be read and pondered." – Thomas G. Weiss, City University of New York, USA

From the Publisher