Ethics as the State Theory of Democracy

Ethics is founded on the view that the values ofimpossible to achieve, it would have significant
liberal democracy should be rethought rather thanconsequences for our actions in the values that
abandoned on the excuse of globalization, orwe should be attempting to next realize and the
defended by an attempt to recreate the strongbalances we made between those values and
states of the recent past. People would, however,their competitors.
argue for the protection and preservation ofTo think that the solution to the challenges posed
state-based institutions wherever possible pendingby globalization to existing strong states is to
the emergence of new institutions.create a new, larger, universal 'strong state'
Globalization clears the way for the widermisses the main point about the decline of
application of the values of equality, democracy,sovereignty. Such a view remains stuck in the
welfare and community. Most enlightenmentassumptions held during the period of strong
values were claims for all human beings. Thestates. What is likely to emerge is a world where
Declaration by the French Assembly was of theinstitutions cross previous international boundaries
rights of man. The American Declaration ofand do not claim, unlike sovereign states, to cover
Independence held 'these truths to beall areas of life.
self-evident, that all men are created equal.The values of the Enlightenment as challenged,
Despite the universality of these claims, themodified and developed by 250 years of legal,
institutions created by the state were exclusivelypolitical and social philosophy provide an excellent
devoted to providing rights to its own citizens. Astarting point -not least because of the
more globalised political philosophy may allowfundamental Enlightenment shift in the relationship
these values to have global application. Thebetween the state and citizen. Rather than
concepts of sovereignty and no interventionconcentrating on the obligations of subject to
provided the context for the development ofsovereign, it emphasized that public institutions
liberal democratic values. They also providedhave to be justified on the basis of how they
protection for these fledgling values from outsideserve the citizens. The North Atlantic
interference by more authoritarian regimes, whichEnlightenment did not hold a monopoly on truth,
disliked democracy. However, the walls ofbut was an important step forward in the
sovereignty also acted as a barrier to theseuniversal struggle to improve the human condition.
values spreading to neighboring states whoseWhat is needed now is an international search for
citizens were often in much need of them.new and revised values to which all may
The fact that values become impossible, orcontribute and in which all may learn from the
virtually impossible, to realize does not eliminateideas, and failures of others. As in so many other
their value (at least not in my reading of the factareas, the claim to universality must be
value relationship). However, if such values wereaccompanied by surrender to it.