Introduction to Political Theory

Chapter 22 Global justice

Introduction

The term ‘global justice’ encompasses debates over human rights, the

justification of military intervention and the international distribution of

resources. In this chapter we focus on the last of these: the just, or fair,

allocation of resources between nations, and between individuals across

national boundaries. Among political theorists arguments over global justice

emerged from, and took issue with, claims made in debates over ‘domestic

justice’, which we discussed in Chapter 4. Three positions on global justice

have been developed: ‘cosmopolitans’ maintain that it is incoherent to restrict

justice to the sphere of the nation-state. Particularists (or partialists) argue that

it is legitimate to show special concern for one’s compatriots and the claims

of justice can justifiably be restricted. Defenders of the third position – the

‘political conception’ – also argue for differential treatment of the domestic

and global spheres, but they do so by stressing the complexity of morality and

the importance of the political.

Chapter map

In this chapter we will:

• Introduce some of the main issues in
  the global justice debate through a
  discussion of the problem of famine.


• Set out and critically discuss the three
  main positions in the global justice
  debate: cosmopolitanism, particularism
  and the political conception.
  
  
  • Discuss what duties are owed to future
    generations.