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killing of journalists, with no international response; we see this in the destruction
of the Amazon and indigenous peoples, with no international response.
And authoritarian, nationalist regimes are on the rise among states. Is this due to
weaknesses in global governance or state governance? U.S. President Donald
Trump is a self-described nationalist who promotes a “sovereignty-first” agenda
(Baker 2018). He “avoids bringing up uncomfortable human-rights issues with foreign leaders in the belief that he can get a better deal by leaving thorny subjects and
the internal affairs of other nations off the table” (Kounalakis 2018).
Falk argues that,
…nationalist goals are always given precedence without a second thought. From these perspectives international law should not be allowed to interfere with fidelity to a nationalist
agenda. At the same time, the pressures exerted by migratory flows stemming from war torn
regions, especially the Middle East and Africa, and from ecologically challenged habitats,
have weakened mainstream support for human rights, and especially for those who are refugees or asylum seekers. Despite neoliberal globalization, and in some respects, as a reaction
to it, the state system has become more statist, with a corresponding retreat in efforts to
protect the human rights of vulnerable peoples, especially if they are regarded as strangers
to the community of the nation state. (Polychroniou 2018)
Under this hyper-nationalism, a double-harm, or exacerbation of harms, also
occurs. States can cause or be contributors to global crises, like political instability,
poverty, mass migrations, or climate change, and then shield themselves with state
sovereignty and hyper-nationalism. They cause global crises, yet then exacerbate
that harm by continuing that harm, closing their borders, severely limiting or refusing refugees, and/or cutting humanitarian aid. The victims of human and environmental harms then also become the victims of the statist state.
4 Ubuntu: A Relational Ethic for a Relational World
“A person is a person through other persons.” (Tutu 1999)
And a nation is a nation through other nations. From Africa came the origins of
our lives as humans, and from Africa could come the path to our future, the migration of ubuntu (Posth et al. 2017). Ubuntu is an ethical and legal principle, rooted in
southern African, that recognizes that we are humans through other humans, due to
our communal and harmonious relationships with one another. Ubuntu is an ethic of
interdependence, “We belong in a bundle of life” and “my humanity is caught up, is
inextricably bound up, in yours” (Tutu 1999).
And ubuntu unites by acknowledging our differences. According to Michael
Onyebuchi Eze, “A person is a person through other people” strikes an affirmation
of one’s humanity through recognition of an ‘other’ in his or her uniqueness and
difference,” and “induces an ideal of shared human subjectivity that promotes a
community’s good through an unconditional recognition and appreciation of individual uniqueness and difference” (Eze 2008, 2010). Therefore, actualizing an ethic
K. A. Gwiazdon
killing of journalists, with no international response; we see this in the destruction
of the Amazon and indigenous peoples, with no international response.
And authoritarian, nationalist regimes are on the rise among states. Is this due to
weaknesses in global governance or state governance? U.S. President Donald
Trump is a self-described nationalist who promotes a “sovereignty-first” agenda
(Baker 2018). He “avoids bringing up uncomfortable human-rights issues with foreign leaders in the belief that he can get a better deal by leaving thorny subjects and
the internal affairs of other nations off the table” (Kounalakis 2018).
Falk argues that,
…nationalist goals are always given precedence without a second thought. From these perspectives international law should not be allowed to interfere with fidelity to a nationalist
agenda. At the same time, the pressures exerted by migratory flows stemming from war torn
regions, especially the Middle East and Africa, and from ecologically challenged habitats,
have weakened mainstream support for human rights, and especially for those who are refugees or asylum seekers. Despite neoliberal globalization, and in some respects, as a reaction
to it, the state system has become more statist, with a corresponding retreat in efforts to
protect the human rights of vulnerable peoples, especially if they are regarded as strangers
to the community of the nation state. (Polychroniou 2018)
Under this hyper-nationalism, a double-harm, or exacerbation of harms, also
occurs. States can cause or be contributors to global crises, like political instability,
poverty, mass migrations, or climate change, and then shield themselves with state
sovereignty and hyper-nationalism. They cause global crises, yet then exacerbate
that harm by continuing that harm, closing their borders, severely limiting or refusing refugees, and/or cutting humanitarian aid. The victims of human and environmental harms then also become the victims of the statist state.
4 Ubuntu: A Relational Ethic for a Relational World
“A person is a person through other persons.” (Tutu 1999)
And a nation is a nation through other nations. From Africa came the origins of
our lives as humans, and from Africa could come the path to our future, the migration of ubuntu (Posth et al. 2017). Ubuntu is an ethical and legal principle, rooted in
southern African, that recognizes that we are humans through other humans, due to
our communal and harmonious relationships with one another. Ubuntu is an ethic of
interdependence, “We belong in a bundle of life” and “my humanity is caught up, is
inextricably bound up, in yours” (Tutu 1999).
And ubuntu unites by acknowledging our differences. According to Michael
Onyebuchi Eze, “A person is a person through other people” strikes an affirmation
of one’s humanity through recognition of an ‘other’ in his or her uniqueness and
difference,” and “induces an ideal of shared human subjectivity that promotes a
community’s good through an unconditional recognition and appreciation of individual uniqueness and difference” (Eze 2008, 2010). Therefore, actualizing an ethic
K. A. Gwiazdon