3071-The political economy of new slavery

10
The Global Framework for
Development: Instrumentality
or Contested Ethical Space?
Nigel Dower
Introduction
The main purpose of this paper is to advocate a wide agenda for
development ethics which includes the global framework for development
to do with international relations, globalization and the role of
individuals, as a framework in which many ethically contested issues
arise. The way we think of the ethical challenges of economic slavery
is partly dependent on these issues, both because it is itself a manifestation
of bad development and because it is a cause of economic poverty.
The standard ‘neo-westphalian’ paradigm, descriptive and normative, in
which states and international institutions are the primary determinants
of what happens globally, the global economy is viewed as the engine
of development, and individuals in global civil society play a small part,
is challenged. Various ethical issues to do with the ends and means in
this paradigm are raised. The responses to these issues affect the ways
in which the extent to which a central goal of development – the
alleviation of extreme poverty – is achieved and therefore are part of
development ethics. This thesis is illustrated with brief discussions of
the cosmopolitan challenges to standard ‘internationalist’ assumptions
in international relations, a critique of foreign aid and its relation to
the rest of foreign policy, the impact of globalization and the ethical
dynamics of the global economy, the diverse responses to September
11th, and the increasing role of individuals in global civil society.
Perspective
On the account developed here development ethics is an aspect of cosmopolitan
or global ethics. Development ethics is the ethical assessment
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