Recognition, Conflict and the Problem of Global Ethical Community

Recognition is a fundamental aspect of all social interactions; between individuals, groups, local communities and sovereign states. Recognition refers to those sociological processes whereby two or more entities (such as states), groups (such as ethnic or cultural communities) or individuals interact with one another and come to understand themselves, and the other, as mutually free individuals: as social agents whose identities, interests and outlooks are equally bound together. Without the fo