The Morality of Politics
Book launch with the author and Humaniora's ex-dean Ulf Hedetoft and a conversation with the Danish philosopher and logician, Professor Vincent F. Hendricks (KOMM), followed by a small reception.
This book explores the moral essence of states in domestic as well as international politics, thinking beyond national interests. It deals with the morality, identity, self-conception and prestige of states, all of which goes well beyond the narrow, rationalist defence of national interests, which dominates most IR studies. The honour of states – which is most clearly seen in situations of war – rests on the ideal conception of ‘all of us’, which includes all citizens, all classes and all generations, set against their opposite numbers outside of ‘our’ immediate sphere of domination. This state-based image of itself and its existential teleology constitutes its very essence, notwithstanding that it is often seen as a deviation (‘exception’) from the normal state of affairs, where the state is ‘just’ there to serve and support the economy and its principal actors.
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