'A presumption of trust' in international society

In: International relations: the journal of the David Davies Memorial Institute of International Studies, Band 34, Heft 4, S. 634-641

Abstract

This article reflects on Nicholas J. Rengger's 1997 article in International Affairs on 'The ethics of trust in world politics'. The article has received comparably little attention, which is a shame because as I explore in my contribution it remains two decades on a highly important intervention in the on-going debate over the possibilities for developing and sustaining trust in an anarchic international system. Rengger argued that international cooperation, and the idea of international society it rests on, cannot be sustained in the absence of what he called 'a presumption of trust'. However, he viewed this presumption in late modernity as an increasingly fragile one, and whilst he offered some ways to shore up the crumbling foundation of trust, his moral skepticism as to the possibilities of realising this run through his thinking. Rengger's concern was that as the practices that 'ground' trust erode, cooperation will come to depend solely on rational egoist, interest-based calculations, and that such a basis is unstable and prone to breakdown. The problem that Rengger identified of how to ground authoritative practices of trust in international society remains an urgent one at a time when great power relations are characterised by increasing distrust. Having engaged with some of his key arguments in the article, I end by briefly identifying three problems that his essay would have benefited from considering further. These are (1) the relationship between trust and trustworthiness; (2) the neglect of security community theory; and (3) the potential of 'godparenting' (a concept Rengger borrows and develops from the moral philosopher Annette Baier) in international relations.