Ethical Issues in International Relations and Funding

Ethics beyond borders

The syllabus mentions "ethical issues in international relations and funding". International relations are often seen as the realm of power and national interest alone. But questions of justice, human rights, aid, climate responsibility and fair trade have strong ethical content. India's own foreign policy – from non-alignment and Panchsheel to *Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam* and vaccine diplomacy – has always claimed an ethical basis.

Two schools of thought

Most states act on a mix. Constructivists add that norms and identities shape state behaviour – for example, the global taboo on chemical weapons.

Major ethical issues in international relations

1. War and the use of force – just war theory (from Augustine and Aquinas to Michael Walzer's *Just and Unjust Wars*, 1977): *jus ad bellum* (just cause, legitimate authority, right intention, last resort, proportionality, reasonable chance of success) and *jus in bello* (distinction between combatants and civilians, proportionality, no unnecessary suffering). International humanitarian law (Geneva Conventions, 1949) codifies these.
2. Humanitarian intervention and R2P – the Responsibility to Protect (UN World Summit, 2005) says states must protect their people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity; if they fail, the international community has a responsibility to act. Concern: misuse as cover for regime change (Libya, 2011).
3. Human rights vs sovereignty – criticism of a country's internal policies vs non-interference.
4. Nuclear ethics – deterrence, disarmament, the discriminatory nature of the NPT (1968); India's no first use doctrine (2003) and call for universal disarmament.
5. Refugees and migration – duty to protect people fleeing persecution (non-refoulement) vs national security and resources. India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention but has hosted Tibetans, Sri Lankan Tamils and others.
6. Climate justice – historical emissions by developed countries vs current emissions; common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC) under the UNFCCC (1992) and Paris Agreement (2015); climate finance promises (USD 100 billion a year target; the new collective goal of at least USD 300 billion a year by 2035 agreed at COP29, Baku, 2024).
7. Global inequality and trade – unfair subsidies, intellectual property rules that limit access to medicines (TRIPS waiver debate during COVID-19).
8. Global health – vaccine nationalism vs vaccine equity; India's Vaccine Maitri (2021) supplied vaccines to around 100 countries.
9. Sanctions – unilateral sanctions hurt ordinary people; the ethics of targeted vs broad sanctions.
10. Cyber and AI ethics – cyber attacks, surveillance, autonomous weapons.
11. Debt traps – lending that leads to loss of strategic assets (Hambantota port lease, 2017).

Ethics of international funding

International funding includes official development assistance (ODA), loans from multilateral banks (World Bank, ADB, AIIB, NDB), bilateral aid, and funding of NGOs and research by foreign donors.

Ethical concerns:

• Conditionalities – structural adjustment conditions (e.g., IMF programmes in the 1980s–90s) that forced cuts in social spending; seen as violating the sovereignty and welfare of poor countries.
• Tied aid – aid that must be spent on goods from the donor country, reducing value.
• Strategic or political aid – aid used to buy influence rather than reduce poverty.
• Debt sustainability – opaque loans, high interest, collateral of strategic assets.
• Corruption and leakages – aid diverted by elites; poor monitoring.
• Dependency – long-term reliance that weakens local capacity.
• Foreign funding of NGOs – may support genuine social work or be used to influence domestic politics, religious conversion or protests against projects. India regulates it through the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, amended in 2020 (ban on sub-granting, Aadhaar for office-bearers, 20% cap on administrative expenses, SBI New Delhi account). Critics say the amendment hurt small NGOs; the government says it improves accountability.
• Funding of research and think-tanks – conflicts of interest if donors shape findings.

Ethical principles for aid (Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, 2005, and Busan Partnership, 2011): ownership by recipient countries, alignment with national priorities, harmonisation among donors, managing for results, and mutual accountability.

India as an ethical actor

India has moved from aid recipient to development partner:

• Lines of credit and grants to neighbours and Africa (through the Exim Bank), with a demand-driven approach.
• Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme (1964) – training for officials from about 160 countries.
• Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) – Operation Maitri (Nepal earthquake, 2015), Operation Dost (Turkey–Syria earthquake, 2023), Operation Brahma (Myanmar earthquake, 2025).
• International Solar Alliance (2015) – clean energy cooperation.
• G20 presidency (2023) – theme "One Earth, One Family, One Future"; African Union admitted as a permanent member.
• Voice of the Global South summits since 2023.
• Panchsheel (1954) – mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality and mutual benefit, peaceful coexistence.

Critics note tensions – for example, between strategic interests and human-rights concerns in dealings with some regimes – showing that India, like all states, balances ethics and interest.

Balancing national interest and ethics

A mature position is ethical realism:

• Pursue national interest, but within international law and basic human rights.
• Choose means that are proportionate and transparent.
• Recognise global public goods – climate, health, peace – that need cooperation.
• Use soft power – culture, democracy, diaspora, yoga, development partnership – which itself depends on ethical credibility.
• Gandhi's and Nehru's view that a nation's moral standing is part of its strength.

Worked example: an aid offer with strings

A foreign government offers a large low-interest loan to an Indian State for a metro project, on condition that rolling stock is bought only from its own companies and that its consultants manage the project.

• Benefits: cheap finance, faster project, technology.
• Ethical concerns: tied aid may raise costs; local industry loses opportunities (against Make in India); data and security risks if critical systems are controlled abroad; transparency of terms.
• Response: negotiate partial untying or local manufacturing under transfer of technology, insist on open tendering for parts of the work, publish key terms, and have the Department of Economic Affairs examine debt sustainability.

This shows the principle of ownership – the recipient must decide priorities and terms, not the donor.

Diaspora, soft power and ethics

India's diaspora of over 3 crore people and its soft power – yoga (International Day of Yoga since 2015), cinema, democracy and digital public infrastructure such as UPI and Aadhaar shared with other countries – depend on ethical credibility. Protecting migrant workers abroad (for example, through the eMigrate system and evacuation missions such as Operation Kaveri from Sudan in 2023 and Operation Ajay from Israel in 2023) is both an ethical duty and a foreign policy priority.

Quotes to use

• Nehru: "Peace is not only an absence of war; it is also a state of mind."
• Kant (*Perpetual Peace*): a violation of rights in one place of the earth is felt everywhere.
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the UN (1977) spoke of *Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam* – the world as one family.

Mains practice question

"National interest and international ethics are not always in conflict." Examine this statement with reference to India's foreign policy and its approach to international funding. (250 words)

Answer framework

• Realism vs idealism; ethical realism.
• Issues: war, R2P, climate justice, refugees, vaccine equity, debt traps.
• Funding ethics: conditionalities, tied aid, FCRA, Paris principles.
• India: Panchsheel, Vaccine Maitri, ITEC, HADR, ISA, G20.
• Conclude: ethics builds soft power and long-term interest.