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Gs paper-4
Syllabus: Political Ethics
Context:
Recent incidents around the world like the Russia-Ukraine war, the Nupur Sharma case, etc have highlighted the issue of lack of ethics in politics.
Definition: Political ethics refers to making moral judgments to guide action and methods of decision-making for the public good.
Various perspectives regarding Political Ethics:
- Politics and Ethics are completely separate.
Politics is considered a state of continuous struggle for power and thus the politicians cannot be bound by some abstract ethical principles that would constrain this pursuit.
E.g: the South Indian movie “ Jana Gana Mana” has clearly highlighted this issue of how politicians gain power by separating from ethics and playing with public sentiments.
- Ethics is integral to politics
Aristotle believed that ethics and politics are strongly related. Ethics examines the good of the individual, while politics examines the good of the state, which he considered to be the best type of community.
E.g: the Indian constitution is a prime example of how ethics is integral to politics.
- Politics without ethics is disastrous.
The repercussions of various recent incidents have an impact on the country and the public at large. Experts point out that politicians are also public servants—their actions should be for the public good and their opinion should not be insensitive toward any community.
E.g: Russia-Ukraine War, Nupur Sharma Case.
As rightly said by Mahatma Gandhi, politics without principles and ethics would be disastrous.
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