A Study in Transborder Ethics

A renewed approach to democratic ethics is needed, one that takes into consideration the management of complexity and memory in a global world. The expansion of democratic ethics for the stewardship of a postnational, postmetaphysical, and postsecular world is the object of this book. It takes as its point of departure current proposals for global democratic justice, but extends these by incorporating contemporary European ideas on border and existential ethics. The privilege of democratic citizenship includes our conscious involvement with our historical destinies, and with others whom we inevitably encounter on our journey of contemporary politics. A post-heroic approach to democratic ethics, one which takes violence and injustice seriously, yet understands the constraints posed on us as historical beings, is necessary. The practices of civility, such as they arise from a normative democratic universe and the ever-increasing role of civil society, can be harnessed for a transborder ethics. The examination of a contemporary democratic anthropology that includes a phenomenology of violence further clarifies the importance of intersubjective processes of encounter, dialogue, and recognition.

Genevieve Souillac occupies a senior position as University Researcher at the Tampere Peace Research Institute (TAPRI) at the University of Tampere, Finland. Previously, she was Senior Associate Professor of Philosophy and Peace Studies at the International Christian University of Japan, and Academic Associate at the United Nations University’s Peace and Governance Programme in Tokyo. Earlier, she lectured at the University of Sydney’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in Australia. Her other publications include ?Human rights in crisis. The Sacred and the Secular in contemporary French Thought,? and ?The Burden of Democracy. The claims of cultures, Public culture, and Democratic Memory.?