SHOULD A SECURITY STUDIES ANALYST EXCLUDE MORAL CONSIDERATIONS ?_ Security studies and concerns over morality have, for generations, gone hand in hand and thus opinions, such as those of Hedley Bull, claim that "[security] is about the relationship between means and ends, and an exercise in 'pure' [security] strategy will exclude consideration of the moral nature of the means and the ends". (Bull 1968) Claims such as this one place the objectivity of security analysts, who consider morality as part of the equation, into contention. The claims also highlight the essential task of a security analyst as purely the means and the ends, which promotes the adoption of a radical realist view to perform optimally. Moral considerations are ultimately an individual's unique opinions and feelings; therefore this could influence an analyst to be more subjective. The intangible and commonly reified notion of a moral compass is in essence subjective and "it is worth noting, of course, that for hundreds of millions of individuals it is still religion that forms the strongest basis for moral beliefs" (F. B. Farrell 1996). This sense of morality founded more often than not on religion facilitates bias within a security analyst's judgement. Taking the case of the disputed independent state of Tibet and the fact that political and security policies are often influenced by spiritual leader the 14th Dalai Lama, illustrates the point that a more forceful and effective stance irrelevant of pacifistic Buddhist morals could possibly be employed by Tibet to secure their independence from China. If a security analyst distances the affliction of the human condition, objectivity will prevail along with rationale and calculated decisions. Arguably, political stances such as liberalism and conservatism effectively deal with security issues in a manner that encompass morality to some degree however nothing can best the simplicity of Machiavellianism which essentially denies the relevance of morality in both politics and international affairs. Exemplifying the unreliability of other doctrines is the example of post-World War I Britain which was, in the early 1930s, led by Christian Lansbury as part of the strong pacifist wing of the Labour Party. This pacifist position was later on abandoned due to the clear security fissures it created as the threat of Nazi Germany increased. This instance clearly denotes the ineffective approach of a morally inclined security position whilst on the other hand a Machiavellian or realist approach can easily 0 | Page
denote "that anything is justified by reason of state" (Bull 1977) without any references to morality. The exclusion of morality, then, conclusively presents a security analyst with the means to exclude redundant considerations in the pursuit of 'pure' security strategy. This is especially facilitated since a lack of moral consideration can lead to both better objectivity and the ability to adopt effective political stances such as realism to expedite security strategy. 1 | Page
Bibliography B. Farrell, Frank. "Rorty, Disenchantment and Modern Institutions." In Subjectivity, Realism, and Postmodernism: The Recovery of the World in Recent Philosophy, 142 and 143. Cambridge