The passing of another golden age: global ethics in a time of deglobalisation

Abstract

A quarter of the way through the twenty-first century, there are no great illusions about the state of world affairs. The return of interstate war and disruptive lurches towards deglobalisation suggest a markedly different context from that in which the Journal of Global Ethics has developed. At the end of another ‘golden age of security’ there exists an awareness of an old order no longer fit for purpose, a recognition of new forces emerging, the need for change, the necessity of making tough choices, all alongside great difficulty in imagining how any of it might occur. What do global ethics look like in a world that is fracturing and breaking apart? What normative possibilities exist in the midst of polycrisis? In these conditions of increasing fragmentation and spreading conflict, a feasible agenda for global ethics would appear to be one that is much more minimal and defensive in scope.