International Development Ethics Essay -- Ecology Ecological Environme

ABSTRACT: I discuss the nature and genesis of international development ethics as well as its current areas of consensus, controversies, challenges, and agenda. A relatively new field of applied ethics, international development ethics is ethical reflection on the ends and means of socioeconomic change in poor countries and regions. It has several sources: criticism of colonialism and post-World War II developmental strategies; Denis Goulet's writings; Anglo-American philosophical debates about the ethics of famine relief; and Paul Streeten's and Amartya Sen's approaches to development. Development ethicists agree that the moral dimension of development theory and practice is just as important as the scientific and policy components. What is often called "development" (e.g., economic growth) may be bad for people, communities, and the environment. Hence, the process of development should be reconceived as beneficial change, usually specified as alleviating human misery and environmen tal degradation in poor countries. The Nature of Development Ethics National policymakers, project managers and international aid donors involved in development in poor countries often confront moral questions in their work. Development scholars recognize that social-scientific theories of 'development' and 'underdevelopment' have ethical or as well as empirical and policy components. Development philosophers and other ethicists formulate ethical principles relevant to social change in poor countries, analyze and assess the moral dimensions of development theories and seek to resolve the moral quandaries raised in development policies and practice: In what direction and by what means should a society 'develop'? Who is morally responsible for bene... ...n, MA: Lexington Books. Nussbaum, M. and J. Glover (eds.) (1995) Women, Culture and Development, Oxford: Clarendon Press. ______ and A. Sen (eds.) (1993) The Quality of Life, Oxford: Clarendon Press. O'Neill, O. (1993) "Ending World Hunger," in T. Regan (ed.) Matters of Life and Death, New York: London: Allen & Unwin. Segal, J.M. (1991) "What is Development?" in C.V. Blatz (ed.) Ethics and Agriculture: An Anthology on Current Issues in World Context, Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press. Sen, A. (1984) Resources, Values and Development, Oxford: Blackwell; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Streeten, P. with Burki, S.J., Haq, M., Hicks, N., and Stewart, F. (1981) First Things First: Meeting Basic Needs in Developing Countries, London: Oxford University Press. Streeten, P. (1994) Strategies for Human Development, Copenhagen: Handelshojskolens.