It’s Legal, but Is It Ethical?

What are our ultimate objectives in measuring the application of laws within the countries of the world?

Objectives of the Rule of Law 

1. For all peoples to live a better quality of life and to live in greater harmony, not only within the context of their respective countries, but also in relation to the rest of the world.

2. To aid in reducing and eliminating worldwide cataclysmic injustices such as poverty, violent crimes and corruption.

The Rule of Law Index is a brilliant and essential tool for measuring the degree of legality within presently ninety-seven countries worldwide.  However, for a holistic analysis, I believe that it is necessary to additionally consider countries’ ethical behavior within the globalization framework.

GLOBALIZATION ACCEPTS UNSUSTAINABLE IMBALANCES CREATED BY LEGAL ACTIVITIES WITHOUT CONSIDERATION OF ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

In the productive sector, globalization, propelled by impressive advances in knowledge, technology and worldwide communications, is allowing our world population to have access to “competitive” goods at the expense of labor force exploitation in super-populated countries.

When competitiveness is not based on ethical principles, economic and social imbalances are created. These imbalances not only negatively affect production and employment within both exploited and exploiting countries, but they also serve to contribute to escalating worldwide poverty.

When the act of upholding the law and the act of operating ethically do not work in synchronicity, we may find ourselves faced with inconsistencies such as the following:

• It is legal and convenient to be able to have access to products that are increasingly inexpensive, but is it ethical that these lower prices are brought about by the exploitation of labor rights?
• It is legal for trans-national, super-populated countries to produce parts and final products abroad, but is it ethical to take advantage of cheap labor, knowing that labor rights are being violated?
• It is legal to sell used goods originating in developed countries. However, is it ethical to promote the sale of these inexpensive goods in developing countries, knowing that these countries suffer adverse economical and environmental consequences?
• In developing countries such as Bolivia, many SMEs are semi-legal, allowing them to combat unfair competition from imported subsidized products as well as from the illegal smuggling of goods into the country.  The present reality is that without practicing semi-legality, most of these businesses would not survive.  Given this dilemma, could the practice of semi-legalization be considered ethical?