Global Morality

The word morality generally suggests a proper way of doing something. It purports to give a judgement of human behaviour according to some standard that people are expected to meet. This would suggest that by ‘global morality’ we also mean that the world should be expected to conform to a universal course of behaviour. But this view would be incorrect.

By global morality we certainly do not mean one code of behaviour that should apply in all places. Indeed, we are in no way saying that there ought to be just one global way that all peoples should be expected to follow irrespective of their culture or what makes them unique. Very far from it. Instead, our perspective of global morality, the basis on which our Centre is founded, is very much plural.

While globalisation has been censured in the last few months, particularly as being one of the causes of the global economic downturn, and many have spoken about de-globalisation and a retreat back to nation-statism, in our view it is a force that cannot be recoiled. We believe that whatever the merits of this development, factors such as global trade, international technology and migration, mean that the world has now reached a turning point and it will continue to become even more integrated in the future. As a result, what often happens in one part of the world will sometimes have an effect in others and this will continue to be fuelled by further global integration.

However, that is not to say that there should be one right way of doing something. That is indeed what we mean in saying that we are not preferring one morality over another. Instead, what we believe that as the world integrates, it will just be necessary for people across the world to engage in dialogue to reach some consensus on what ought to be done in important situations. In this way, our message of global morality is plural and it is hoped that they will be able to identify some common ground that will encompass the basic values of everyone.

Of course, we are not advocating anything new. Discourse, transnational trust building, diversity and respect are essentially what all the major international and regional institutions, especially since the end of the Second World War, have been based on. So why should it be any different now? The Centre simply aims to build upon some of the positive changes that are occurring in the world today. One of the ways this can be done is through greater dialogue, discussion, agreement and disagreement and the Centre will attempt to facilitate this. It certainly does not claim to be novel but aims to contribute to what is already happening in the world, and will do so by enabling people everywhere to come together in collaborative advantage, in the hope that this will also add to a will to change for the future.

So what is our ‘global morality?’ It is certainly not that there is one right way. Instead, we believe that people no matter where there live can come to some basic consensus on important issues that affect them all and that this can be achieved through dialogue and transnational trust building.