Altruism
Altruism refers to the selfless concern for the well-being of others, often at the expense of one's own interests. In the political and international relations context, altruism can manifest in policies and actions aimed at promoting the welfare of other nations or addressing global challenges, without seeking direct benefits for one's own country. It is a concept that emphasizes cooperation and empathy on a global scale.
5 Key excerpts on "Altruism"
eBook - ePub- Patricia Kennedy(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Altruism DOI: 10.4324/9780203594186-3 Related entries: Community; Sustainable development; Welfare/well-being Altruism is usually expressed as unselfish behaviour. Studies of Altruism have been conducted in many disciplines including economics and psychology. Heywood (2007 : 55) defines Altruism as ‘concern for the interests and welfare of others, based either upon enlightened self-interest or a belief in a common humanity’. Adam Smith wrote: ‘how selfish so-ever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him to the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he deserves nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it’ (quoted by Collard, 1978 : 52). Altruism has been the focus of many social policy scholars since the 1960s. Titmuss’s (1970) book The Gift Relationship is a seminal work in which he concentrates on Altruism in relation to blood donation. He asks the question: ‘why give to strangers?’ For Titmuss (1968 : 22) Altruism is central to social policy: the grant, or the gift of unilateral transfer – whether it takes the form of cash, time, energy, satisfaction, blood or even life itself – is the distinguishing mark of the social (in policy and administration) just as exchange or bilateral transfer is the mark of the economic. Pinker (1971 : 211) refers to the ‘altruistic potentialities of ordinary citizens’ and suggests: the welfare institutions of a society symbolise an unstable compromise between compassion and indifference, between Altruism and self-interest. If men were predominantly altruistic, compulsory forms of social service would not be necessary; and if men were exclusively self-regarding such compulsion would be impossible...
eBook - ePubThe Price of Prestige
Conspicuous Consumption in International Relations
- Lilach Gilady(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- University of Chicago Press(Publisher)
...CHAPTER FOUR A Contest of Beneficence Prosociality in International Relations For we like to flatter ourselves by falsely attributing to ourselves a nobler motive, whereas in fact we can never, even by the most strenuous self-examination, get entirely behind our covert incentives, since, when moral worth is at issue, what counts is not actions, which one sees, but those inner principles of actions that one does not see. (Kant [1785] 1997, 19–20) When commenting on ethics, Rabbi Hillel famously asked, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I?” Hillel’s first question captures the concept of self-help, one of the most often-cited characteristics of the international system (Waltz 1979; Schroeder 1994, 109; Mercer 1995, 233–34). Yet Hillel does not stop with self-help. His second question focuses on “other-help,” or prosociality. This pair of normative maxims seems to offer contradictory prescriptions: how can we observe other-help while practicing self-help? This tension is especially pronounced in the self-proclaimed self-help environment of international relations. A quick survey of international politics provides many examples of actors that are involved in other-help. The forces of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in the Western Sahara (MINURSO), for example, currently consists of soldiers, policemen, and observers from thirty-three countries including Mongolia, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Poland. International relations theory, with its emphasis on self-help, finds it difficult to explain such prosocial behavior. What explains the participation of these countries in this remote mission, which has already claimed fifteen fatalities? 1 Helping others often consumes resources that are no longer available for self-help. This is especially striking when life and limb are at stake...
- Annamaria Di Fabio, Donald H. Saklofske, Con Stough(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
...Altruism Melissa Yue and Emma A. Climie Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary Altruism Altruism refers to the act of helping or benefiting others on an individual or societal level and is often synonymous with being selfless or prosocial. More specifically, Altruism occurs when an individual voluntarily assists another despite the cost of time, money, or other resources required to help. Altruistic behaviors include sharing, donating, co‐operating, or volunteering. For example, a man who goes into a burning house to save a child would be considered to have acted altruistically; he has performed a positive action to benefit others or society with no expectation of personal reward or benefit. The decision to help someone varies between individuals and situations. Individuals must see the need to help and feel they have the proper resources to give adequate assistance. Even when a need is identified and the resources are available, an individual’s personality or beliefs can also influence whether a person will commit to helping. However, some altruistic behaviors may not appear to be helpful at first. For example, Murielle decides not to help her friend, Albert, complete his homework on time because she wants him to learn the material himself and to prioritize his work next time. Albert might feel that Murielle is being mean; however, Murielle has his best interest at heart. Alternatively, an altruistic individual can punish someone who is behaving poorly in order to correct the behavior. These altruistic punishments serve as a way to redirect undesirable, selfish behaviors that deviate from a society’s standard of fairness as well as to aid the victim (Fehr & Fischbacher, 2003). Theoretical Views Different perspectives on Altruism have emerged in biology, anthropology, and psychology. The biological perspective focuses on the costs and benefits associated with helping another...
eBook - ePubLove and Liberation
Humanitarian Work in Ethiopia's Somali Region
- Lauren Carruth(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Cornell University Press(Publisher)
...Local staff often proudly hailed from ethnic, kinship, or national groups at times involved in internal armed conflicts or peacekeeping missions elsewhere, and they were often publicly perceived as representatives of a political or national group in their capacity as service providers. Aid workers had occasionally participated in political activism and protests as university students, and their more recent engagement in relief work represented, at times, an extension of their political and advocacy work. 18 However, the principles of neutrality, independence, and voluntary service enshrined and enforced by dominant Western humanitarian relief organizations, as well as the legal conventions and the organizational practices on which these principles are based, were not developed primarily to protect or discipline local aid workers, but rather, primarily to protect and promote interests of these relief organizations and the governments that support them. 19 Bani’aadamnimada therefore represents a form of conventional global political engagement between powerful governments and nongovernmental institutions, in places where alternative policies and programs, like long-term economic development, remain challenging or impossible. Global humanitarianism therefore wields representations of principles, crisis, and compassion in order to be able to carry out a kind of government—a “politics of precarious lives,” in the words of Didier Fassin—through management of lives and suffering. 20 The United States, for example, has engaged with politics in Ethiopia, very often, through humanitarian intervention. The Politics of Being above Politics Dunant rode onto a battlefield in Solferino because he needed Napoleon’s permission to do business, and he volunteered there out of a sense of horror. 21 Since then, however, the political strategy of intervening into sovereign states to save lives, over and above political self-interests, has been taken up, ironically, by numerous politicians...
eBook - ePub- Charles Chatterjee(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...They also supported such intervention on certain other grounds 10. Brownlie contested this argument by saying that it was not based on practice of States or that the view should be offered tout court as a proposal to change the existing law 11. Brownlie also pointed out that no customary law existed in regard to humanitarian intervention, and that this concept militates against its legality, and many of the eminent jurists, namely, Brierly, Briggs, Friedmann, Goodrich, Hambro, Jessup and Schwarzenberger opposed it 12. In the event of a conflict arising between ethics in diplomacy and politics of diplomacy, the question arises which should prevail. Although, in theory, there may be an answer to the question, in the real world, reaction to this issue can be very different. Power politics forms the foundation of politics of diplomacy. 4.4 What Role May Ethics in Diplomacy Play in Restraining Politics of Diplomacy? Not much. This is because ethics in diplomacy is a vague concept, although there exists a perception that it is identifiable. Politics of diplomacy cannot be restrained for a variety of reasons: (a) ethics in diplomacy has not set any universally acceptable standards; (b) moral constraints in interventionist diplomacy are relatively rare 13 ; and (c) the default in developing a framework of ethics allows politics of diplomacy to reign supreme. Indifference of States to the miseries of other States or to the coming to the rescue of an aggressed State are but a few examples of tolerating injustice to other States or peoples therein. The role of ethics in international diplomacy is almost like the role of religion in a nation’s life...
