Human Rights Violations and State Irrationality
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Mentor Information
Dr. Peter N. Funke
Description
Thomas Hobbes believed there could be no unjust behavior in a lawless state, implying humans as inherently violent when there was an absence of legal obligation. Using this, Adam Smith’s classical economist theory emphasizing self-interest would transform into the Rational State Actor theory in the field of international relations. The Rational State Actor theory is a methodological approach defined as the assumption that states will act in their own self-interest under the satisfaction of utility and through the competent understanding of consequences and alternative choice. Political scientists claim Nazi Germany as the only irrational state actor in history due to its irrational expansionist policies that did not account for consequence. Previous research has focused on determining Germany’s irrationality by debating if its security motives justified its extreme expansionist measures, however, often, failed to to account for the Nazi’s human rights violations as another tool in determining its irrationality. This research seeks to explore human rights violations as a tool of state irrationality by observing Nazi Germany’s role in the genocide and torture of the Jewish population. Furthermore, we seek to consolidate human rights violations as an independent means of determination for state irrationality through analysis of decisions such as “The Final Solution” in Nazi Germany. As such, the implications of this research is to determine if Nazism as an ideology was irrational, convey human rights violations as an independent means of irrationality, and to use Nazi Germany as a blueprint for state irrationality on the basis of human rights violations.
Human Rights Violations and State Irrationality
Thomas Hobbes believed there could be no unjust behavior in a lawless state, implying humans as inherently violent when there was an absence of legal obligation. Using this, Adam Smith’s classical economist theory emphasizing self-interest would transform into the Rational State Actor theory in the field of international relations. The Rational State Actor theory is a methodological approach defined as the assumption that states will act in their own self-interest under the satisfaction of utility and through the competent understanding of consequences and alternative choice. Political scientists claim Nazi Germany as the only irrational state actor in history due to its irrational expansionist policies that did not account for consequence. Previous research has focused on determining Germany’s irrationality by debating if its security motives justified its extreme expansionist measures, however, often, failed to to account for the Nazi’s human rights violations as another tool in determining its irrationality. This research seeks to explore human rights violations as a tool of state irrationality by observing Nazi Germany’s role in the genocide and torture of the Jewish population. Furthermore, we seek to consolidate human rights violations as an independent means of determination for state irrationality through analysis of decisions such as “The Final Solution” in Nazi Germany. As such, the implications of this research is to determine if Nazism as an ideology was irrational, convey human rights violations as an independent means of irrationality, and to use Nazi Germany as a blueprint for state irrationality on the basis of human rights violations.
