Can Politics Be Conducted With No Reference To Ethical Or Moral Principles? Essay Examples

Politics is an important activity among the human population. This comes from its use in building communities and societies that are guided by laws, rules, and a mutual balance of interests that are not in conflict with each other. Politics is difficult and complex, but for it to be successful, it requires an exceedingly high level of commitment and responsibility from political parties, citizens, government executives, the media, judiciary, parliamentarians, non-governmental organizations, business, educational and religious institutions (Girardin n.p). All across the continents, people do not trust politicians and politics because both are deemed unethical in the manner in which they conduct their affairs. With this ugly finding, it is true that politics cannot be conducted without inculcation of ethics and morals.
Politicians who are selfish and corrupt cause the run-down of institutions and countries. The incessant political posturing and defending special interests by politicians cause immense conflicts in societies and communities. Corruption and public finances misappropriation lead to citizens being denied essential services. Politics based on ethics and morality usually serve the common good of the entire country regardless of tribal or economic differences of the people.
Political credibility calls for conducting of politics without disregard of the freedoms of the citizen, exercising of democracy, and responsible leadership. Without the observance of ethics and moral principles, unethical and immoral politics will lead to the degeneration of countries into oppressive and undemocratic bastions. This makes the citizens disgruntled, and they may turn against their own governance structures. For example, disillusionment led to the emergence of the Arab Spring when the citizens poured into streets to reclaim freedom and democracy. In Italy, national unity was at its lowest point, and this saw the push by citizens for the country to be led by intellectuals and technocrats who could possibly rebuild it (Girardin n.p).
Moreover, ethical and moral principles are crucial in politics when it comes to reconciliation after atrocious conflicts and wars. Moral principles call for acknowledgement and confession of crimes committed and submission of apologies to reconcile with the aggrieved or victims. Germany, after the Holocaust, apologized officially for the crimes committed by the Nazi leadership. Moreover, they provided a commitment to avoid such heinous crimes in the future. Essentially, the repentance of the Germans healed relationships and acted as the launching pad for the formation of the European Union. The ethically sensitive politics and the goodwill of politicians were essential for the success of the public reconciliations. Morally conscious political leadership plays an important role in reconciling warring sides.
Conducting politics without considering ethics and moral principles can lead to environmental challenges. To politically solve these challenges, it is required that the solution is guided by shared values. International political negotiation on matters of global environment concerns are required to reach a mix of ethical values. This includes the creation and enhancement of solidarity between poor and developed countries and trying to equity between the present and the past bearing of industrial activities on the global environment. Political leaders also need to be reminded of their responsibility to all taxpayers and citizens in environmental terms. Politics that are devoid of ethics can lead to disastrous environmental challenges. The global political leadership has the responsibility to be ethical and moral as it seeks to find solutions to the environmental challenges.
The dignity of human beings cannot be achieved in a politically unethical environment. All citizens in a country should be treated with respect and their inalienable rights like freedom of speech and respect of their opinions need to be secured. The political leadership of a people should be fair and free from developing patronage or organizing privileges. All across nations, citizens want servant leaders and not self-serving politicians. Immoral politics lead to disregard and violation of human rights and unfair states. This can lead to chaos. To avoid this eventuality, it goes without saying; the politics of a nation should be in line with ethical and moral tenets. Lack of this as mentioned earlier will make the people to become disillusioned and they start to rebel.
Political ethics in all dimensions point to the vision the political leaders have for their countries and citizens. One key political ethics is that of conviction and responsibility. Politics that are guided by ethics espouse conviction and enable the politicians to guide the citizens towards achieving great goals (Morgenthau, p.53). Politicians are responsible for lifting the citizens from parochial interests to the farthest horizon possible. The politicians who achieve a mark in history are people who have great visions for their people and countries; their most important desire is to uplift the life of their citizens. This is only possible if they conduct their politics in an ethical and moral manner.
The preceding argument confirms that politics cannot be conducted in an ethical or moral vacuum. Politics being a crucial human activity should be guided by ethics and morality so that they benefit the very humans who create them. Politics that do not conform to any ethical or moral principles leads to disillusionment and anarchy among all cadres of people.

Works Cited

Girardin, Benoît. "Ethics in Politics." Http://www.globethics.net. Globethics.net International Secretariat, 6 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.
Morgenthau, Hans J. "A realist theory of international politics." Realism Reader (2014): 53.