Politics and Morality / Themes for the 21st Century Series (ePub)

Public disenchantment with politics has become a key feature of the
world in which we live. Politicians are increasingly viewed with
suspicion and distrust, and electoral turnout in many modern
democracies continues to fall. But are we right to display such
contempt towards our elected representatives? Can politicians be
morally good or is politics destined to involve dirty hands or the
loss of integrity, as many modern philosophers claim? In this book,
Susan Mendus seeks to address these important questions to assess
whether this apparent tension between morality and politics is real
and, if so, why.

Beginning with an account of integrity as involving a
willingness to stand by ones most fundamental moral commitments,
the author discusses three reasons for thinking that politics
undermines integrity and is incompatible with morality. These are:
the relationship between politics and utilitarian calculation; the
possibility that the realm of politics is a separate realm of
value; and the difficulty of reconciling the demands of different
social roles. She concludes that, in the modern world, we all risk
losing our integrity. To that extent, we are all politicians.
Moreover, we have reason to be glad that politicians are not always
morally good.

Written with verve and clarity, this book provides students and
general readers an accessible guide to the philosophical debates
about the complex relationship between politics and morality in the
contemporary world.