Weaponizing Morality

Abstract

This thesis explores the ethical concept of moral blackmail and applies it to the border crisis between Belarus and the European Union. Following EU sanctions against Belarus after rigged elections and violent repression, the Belarusian regime orchestrated a migration crisis by funnelling people from the Middle East and Africa to the borders of eastern Europe. This thesis argues that a substantive part of this tactic can be understood as an attempt at moral blackmail. This thesis develops an independent conception of moral blackmail, in which the concept is understood as the way in which an intentional blackmailer forces his target to do something in his interest by altering the circumstances in such a way that the alternatives are morally unacceptable. Using this definition, it is argued that the tactics of Belarus can for a substantive part be understood as an attempt at moral blackmail. It ultimately argues that the EU’s response of closing their borders is morally unacceptable, even if it would be the only way in which the moral blackmail can be refused.