NAME: Neil de Gray
THESIS
FORMATION:
Achievement:
Thinking Evaluation
Your Chosen
Topic: Are “dirty hands” necessary in politics and political actions?
1. Write down the thesis statement (answer 1, 2,
3) and supporting evidence.
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Thesis
Statement: “Dirty hands” are imperative for the
effective management, leadership and security of a nation-state, and allow
political organisations and leaders to invoke political change, maintain
order and control of the masses, and to satisfy the perennial principle of
proportionality where the needs of the many outweighs those of a few. |
Evidence 1:
Political “dirty hands” are necessary to invoke change. Russian revolution is just one
example. Dirty hands were required by
the revolutionaries to stop the war and change the weak governmental
rule. “The revolution overthrew the
autocratic imperial monarchy and . . . effected a change in all economic,
political and social relationships in Russian society.” (“Russian Revolution.” Encarta 1998.) Without this revolution it is unlikely any
steps forward would be made in Russian government. |
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Evidence 2: “US policy in El Salvador
demanded nothing less than that America effect fundamental changes in that
country’s authoritarian culture, its political practices, and its economic,
social and military structure. . . . such a project used to be called “nation
building” . . . What is indisputable is that for a decade American policy
makers in Washington and American civilian and military personnel in El
Salvador consorted with murderers and sadists.” During the Cold War the United States
funded, aided and supplied many dictatorships and amoral governments to
protect their own interests and keep these nations from falling to Soviet
rule. “America would draw the line there
against ‘Communist interference’.” The
zero sum game, America and the USSR both invested interest in other nations
as a ways of stopping their slide to the others methods. |
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Evidence 3: The FLQ Crisis in Quebec during
the Trudeau years is a perfect example of an excessive use of force to
control the masses and satisfy the perennial principle of
proportionality. Quebecor’s rights
were taken away when the War Measures Act was enacted. Police forces and RCMP were given the power
to “arrest and search people without a warrant, and to detain citizens up to
21 days without giving any reason[1]”
for the arrest. More than 465[2]
French Canadians were arrested and detained on October 16 the day the War
Measures Act was enacted. The War
Measures Act was a drastic manoeuvre that allowed government officials to
control separatist uprisings and stop potential further conflicts. |
2. Write down 3 counter-arguments that you will
be refuting in your essay:
1.
Amoral acts do not exist in the grand scheme of political decision
making. All decisions can be made
fairly, justly and morally without the necessity of “dirty hands” as amoral
acts are non-existent. There is never a
moral dilemma.
2.
In a democratic society “dirty hands” are unacceptable and completely invalid. Authoritarian and dictatorships are the only
forms of government that require the use of dirty hands methodology.
3.
Political leaders, as elected officials should not take it into their
hands to act immorally. By doing this
they are committing a crime against humanity and breaking the code they set
when they were elected, by not representing the best interests of the
people.
3.
Please submit your updated list of sources (full bibliographic format).
WORKS
CITED LIST
Griffin, Lester. “The problem of dirty hands.” The Journal of Religious Ethics. Spring 1989.
McGill, Peter. “Dirty Hands in White Gloves.” World Press Review. September 1993.
Maas, W. “Cruelty and Deception: The Controversy over
Dirty Hands in Politics.” Current Reviews for Academic
Libraries. December 2000.
Slann, Martin. “Conscience and Power: An Examination of
Dirty Hands and Political Leadership.” Perspectives on Political Science. Summer 1997.
Malhotra, S.S. “The Russian Revolution.” The Militant. September 30, 1996.
www.themilitant.com/1996/6034.
Wade, Rex. “The Russian Revolution.” Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. 2000.
Digeser, Peter. “Forgiveness and Politics: Dirty Hands and
Imperfect Procedures.” Political Theory. October 1998.
Sage Publications.
Schmidhauser, John. “Dirty Hands: The Problem of Political
Morality.” Policy Studies Journal. Summer 1995.
Anheier, Helmut. “Studying the Nazi Party: clean models
versus dirty hands.” The American
Journal of Sociology. July 1997.
“The People Disagree: Elections in
Nigeria.” The Economist. April 24, 2003.
Walzer, Michael. “Political Action: The Problem of Dirty
Hands.” Philosophy and Public Affairs.