Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

George Bush's Iraq adventure is rich in dangerous precedents

By Owen Harries - posted Wednesday, 2 March 2005


Judgement is needed in foreign policy decisions, not just principles.

To a remarkable degree, the debate over Iraq has been conducted in moral terms. President Bush has justified his policies in terms of implementing God's will, of "freedom on the march" and conferring the gift of democracy on those unable to achieve it for themselves. His liberal critics have condemned him for, among other things, flouting the alleged moral authority of the United Nations and "the international community", the improper pre-emptive use of force and deliberately lying about the evidence used to justify going to war.

All this raises an important and difficult question: What is - what can be - the role of morality in international politics? Over the years there have been two diametrically opposed views on the subject. Each has a long and distinguished intellectual pedigree, but simpler versions of both can be heard in any bar, common room, board room or at any dinner party.

Advertisement

The first holds that in the realm of international politics, power and self-interest must prevail, and all the rest is decoration. "The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must", wrote Thucydides 2,500 years ago, and given the state of anarchy, distrust and chronic insecurity in which states continue to exist, that remains true today. At best, there is only room for a little altruism and disinterestedness at the margins.

The second view, usually associated with liberalism, is that there is not, or need not be, any problem in applying moral criteria to the conduct of foreign policy. As John Bright, the great 19th century English radical, put it, "the moral law was not written for men alone in their individual character ... it was written as well for nations". That this truth is not understood and acted upon is due to ignorance, and the influence exerted by special interests of a selfish and bellicose kind. A combination of education, democracy, the spread of commerce and the creation of international institutions can, however, remove these impediments. This view was propagated vigorously by Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States.

Both these positions seem - to me - to be seriously flawed. The first - which usually invites the cynical conclusion that "they're all the same" - is wrong because, even though all states do pursue their own interests, the nature and quality of those interests differ greatly, often in morally significant ways. Britain and Germany were both selfishly pursuing their own interests in World War II, and both did terrible things in the process, but it did not follow that it was a matter of moral indifference who won the war - democratic Britain or Nazi Germany. The same was true of the Cold War.

As for the second position, I believe it is profoundly mistaken in its belief that states can realistically be held to the same moral standards as individuals. Individuals, if they choose, can be as self-sacrificing, generous and compassionate as they like, even to the point of self-destruction. They can be saints or martyrs, putting virtue before everything, even survival. States, and those who act in their name, cannot properly be nor do any of those things.

Where then, does this leave the matter? I am not a believer that the truth is usually or always somewhere in the middle, but in this instance I think it is. Moral standards can and should be applied to foreign policy.  But the morality that is appropriate to, and can be sustained in, the soiled, selfish and dangerous world of power politics is a modest one. Its goal is not perfection - not utopian bliss - but decency. It is, more often than not, a morality of the lesser evil, of prudence.

In a system composed of a large number of independent and conflicting wills, uncertain intelligence, deadly weapons, different cultures and no universally recognised and enforceable authority, a prudent morality requires modesty - modesty of ends, of means, and not least of rhetoric.

Advertisement

A prudential ethic places importance on those most mundane of virtues - order and stability. These do not, of course, constitute a sufficient condition for anything. But they are a necessary condition for everything whose achievement and smooth functioning require a degree of predictability and continuity, for example: a system of justice, or genuine democracy, or sustainable commercial relations.

Prudence requires a willingness to settle for half a loaf, rather than making the best the enemy of the good. Compromise is usually an intellectual vice - muddle masquerading as tolerance, except, however, in the most extreme cases of dealing with outright and threatening evil, where it is a political necessity and virtue - especially in conditions in which the alternative is usually a resort to force.

Prudence requires doing everything possible to anticipate the possibility of unintended consequences. It requires care in the setting of precedents that may come home to roost, and an appreciation of why some rules and conventions that may seem redundant have withstood the test of time so well.

Prudence requires resisting the impulse to claim the right to double standards - one for other people, a different and more permissive one for oneself - on the grounds that one represents higher values or has special responsibilities. There is something intrinsically nutty about using one's claimed moral superiority to justify the adoption of lower ethical standards.

A prudential ethic requires that, in making policy, discrimination takes precedence over consistency. This is because a country may pursue a number of goals that have moral worth, among them justice, peace, freedom, security, prosperity and stability. Sometimes these compete or conflict, and which should be given preference will vary. In other words, judgement is involved, not merely the automatic application of general principles.

It is in terms of such a morality of prudence that I believe that the Bush Administration has seriously failed in Iraq. Its policy has been rich in unintended consequences, such as a global wave of intense anti-Americanism, the strong opposition of some of America's most important allies, the indefinite tying down of one-third of a million military personnel, disgusting images of torture, the killing of large numbers of civilians, and the establishment of dangerous precedents that may be exploited by others.

Those who criticise American policy are often criticised for being insensitive to the importance of freedom as a foreign policy goal. It might therefore be appropriate to end with a contribution from John Stuart Mill, a pre-eminent liberal philosopher and the author of a classic treatise, On Liberty:

We have heard something lately about being willing to go to war for an idea. To go to war for an idea, if the war is aggressive, not defensive, is as criminal as to go to war for territory or revenue; for it is as little justified to force our ideas on other people, as to compel them to submit to our will in other respects.

These words were published in 1859 in an essay on the subject of non-intervention. At a time when we have been hearing much about "exporting democracy", they are worth a moment's consideration. 

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. All

Article edited by Leah Wedmore.
If you'd like to be a volunteer editor too, click here.

This article was first published in The Age  on February 21, 2005.



Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

17 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Owen Harries is a Visiting Fellow of the Lowy Institute and was Editor-in-Chief of the Washington-based, foreign policy journal, The National Interest from 1985-2001.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Owen Harries
Article Tools
Comment 17 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy