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The organized hypocrisy of ethical foreign policy: human rights, democracy and Western arms sales

Perkins, Richard and Neumayer, Eric ORCID: 0000-0003-2719-7563 (2010) The organized hypocrisy of ethical foreign policy: human rights, democracy and Western arms sales. Geoforum, 41 (2). pp. 247-256. ISSN 0016-7185

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Identification Number: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2009.09.011

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Western political leaders have scripted a more ethical foreign policy, wherein far greater weight is given to protecting the rights and freedoms of extra-territorial citizens. Using the example of arms exports to developing countries, the present paper exposes the organized hypocrisy underlying countries’ self-declared ethical turn. We show that the major Western arms supplying states – France, Germany, the UK and the US – have generally not exercised export controls so as to discriminate against human rights abusing or autocratic countries during the post-Cold War period. Rather, we uncover ongoing territorial egoism, in that arms have been exported to countries which serve supplying states’ domestic economic and security interests.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescriptio...
Additional Information: © 2009 Elsevier
Divisions: Geography & Environment
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited: 14 Apr 2010 13:22
Last Modified: 12 Apr 2024 20:54
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/27735

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