Globalization, Ethics, and the 'War on Terror'

This article serves as a lead-in to the special issue and reflects on the relationship between globalization, ethics, and the 'war on terror'. It argues that while globalization studies have focused substantially on the marketization of life, including the realms of politics and culture, the current 'war on terror' phase has directed focus in theory and practice back to traditional state-centred security concerns and critical investigation of state-citizen relations, notably in the context of multicultural societies. The article discusses three key areas of ethics. First those connected to the terminology of 'war' in this context and the applicability of just war thinking; second, the challenge of such rhetoric to core values of liberal democracies, such as equality and impartiality; and third, the consequences for the division between the political and public spheres and the supposedly private spheres of religion and culture.