Ethics of Global Tourism

The global tourism industry may provide millions of jobs and billions of enjoyable days for travellers and holiday-makers, but it also requires ethical consideration. This chapter starts by examining the ethics of global tourism around two questions: Firstly, are some tourist destinations unethical? Secondly, are some forms of tourism unethical? These two thematic presentations, based on many examples and controversies, are followed by a short discussion of two key concepts which help conceptualize the ethics of global tourism: exploitation and sustainability. The adoption of a Global Code of Ethics for Tourism by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in 1999, the publication of articles) and then books about tourism ethics, the implementation of corporate social responsibility policies in the tourist industry, as well as the increasing demand for ethical tourism products all show that ethics has now entered global tourism, both in practice and in theory.

Fighting Hunger the Rights Way

The chapter will be grounded in theory and research with the WFP game and resource described as an example of how to make global citizenship education from a rights perspective engaging to students and non-threatening to teachers.

Health Ethics in a Global Context

In this chapter we discuss some of the most important moral issues and controversies in health ethics and how globalization widens and complicates their consideration.

ICT Ethical Issues, Globalization and Knowledge Society

In this chapter, the authors will parse the current ethical issues in the information and communication technology research associated with the economic phenomenon of globalization. These issues will include: the digital divide between developed and developing countries, poverty, piracy, cybercrimes, human rights, and gender equality. The chapter will go on to discuss themes in the development of the “knowledge society” that are germane to the ethics of globalization such as societal transformation and wealth generation. The chapter will develop a framework that will associate ICT ethical issues with knowledge society. Finally, the authors will present conclusions and details some of the findings discussed in the previous sections. A glimpse of the future will be provided.

Globalization in Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate

Benedict XVI, the present pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, published Caritas in Veritate in June 2009. This third papal encyclical of his is distinguished from his others that dealt with the area of theology commonly known as “constructive” or “systematic.” In this most recent publication, Benedict XVI moves his writing into a rich historical arena known as Roman Catholic social teaching. Building upon a solid tradition of popes tackling political, social, and economic issues, Benedict XVI tackles acute contemporary concerns. The key areas Benedict XVI addresses in this encyclical are globalization, the economy, technology, and the environment. Germane to this text, this chapter will seek to explain how globalization is described and critiqued by Benedict XVI in this pivotal letter of his pontificate. While globalization will be the primary focus, because of the interrelationship between the aforementioned topics, attention obviously will also to be given to the other primary areas.

Band-Aid Pedagogy, Celebrity Humanitarianism, and Cosmopolitan Provincialism

The notion that our identity transcends local and national borders, captured in the now ubiquitous concepts of the “global” or “world” citizen, has had an important influence on educational curricula in recent years. The idea of global citizenship has evolved in part as a result of a growing awareness that trends, events, and political-economic arrangements in one part of the world can profoundly impact lives far away (Tully, 2009). The formal education sector is increasingly recognized as having an important role to play in the alleviation of global crises and injustices by cultivating informed and ethical “global citizens” who understand the asymmetries of economic globalization and who are motivated to redress social and global injustices (Dower, 2003; Schattle, 2008; Tully, 2009). While traditionally geared towards developing a sense of national identity and loyalty, citizenship curricula are increasingly being re-formulated to cultivate citizens who possess multiple identities, and a sense of belonging which embraces global as well as local and national perspectives (Reid & Gill, 2010). Citizenship education, as a discrete area of study, is now a compulsory subject in schools in many countries, and the “global dimension” is seen as an important aspect of this curriculum. Drawing on the Republic of Ireland as a case study, this chapter offers a critical exploration of dominant discursive representations of development and “the global” as they are articulated in citizenship education textbooks designed for use with lower secondary students. The analysis suggests that global citizenship, as it is currently conceived in state-sanctioned curriculum resources, is unlikely to foster the kinds of individual and collective action necessary for a substantively more equitable relationship between the First and Third Worlds to be forged.

A Critical Examination of the Assumptions, Beliefs and Ethical Considerations that Underlie Business Models of Global Poverty Reduction

Having identified key ethical considerations, a number of interviews will be conducted with people involved in these initiatives in three different Latin American countries focusing on how they have dealt with these ethical issues in practice. The data collected from these real cases will provide input for analysis. Using the ethical framework constructed in the chapter, three case studies will be offered by conducting interviews with people working in this field in different Latin American countries. These interviews will aim to explore how different practitioners think about and work with these ethical issues in practice. A social constructionist perspective will be used to understand how the people interviewed construct the way they understand the role of business in alleviating poverty, and the explicit or implicit role of ethics in this.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Water Services

Water companies have attracted minimal attention in the corporate social responsibility literature. This chapter examines conceptual issues regarding the applicability and relevance of CSR principles in a public service industry. It aims to bridge the gap that exists between the CSR and water service discourses by offering some initial ideas on the CSR issues of particular relevance to this industry, with emphasis on developing countries. We suggest re-examination of relationships with poor communities, a different understanding of the role of the government, and the adoption of industry-wide, as opposed to company-specific, social responsibility schemes.

Women and Globalization

There are two schools of thought in analyzing the effects of globalization on women. One school, basically optimistic but with some reserves, argues that participation in global trade and in financial markets will improve the situation of all citizens, including women. The other has got a more critical perspective and argues that economic globalization will further increase existing inequalities and will lead to new ones. Both sides of the discussion on the effects of globalization on women are valid, but there is a the need to go beyond the sterile debate on whether globalization is good or bad, and reach a more constructive and wider-scope debate on how to achieve the best possible outcomes of globalization for women. Globalization must be analyzed from a multidimensional perspective and it is only by means of this process and by analyzing the real experiences of actors in adapting to globalization that we can understand the true outreach of globalization. According to this alternative perspective and in trying to develop a constructive debate on the impact of globalization on women a set of practices have to be detected, analyzed, and promoted in order to minimize the negative impacts of globalization on women and reinforce the positive ones. They include, among others: cultural change; sustained and mutually-agreed action programs among business schools, companies, and other interest groups such as the public sector; and removing the glass ceiling in MNCs, including codes of conduct as a part of their corporate social responsibility.

Ethical Issues Concerning International Labor Migration

The chapter will try to identify the ethical issues concerning Indonesian labor migrants who work in Asian countries. If possible, it will give some suggestions as to how to handle the ethical issues in question.