What is a theory of global justice Rawls theory of justice' Rawls theory of a law of peoples a criti

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What is a theory of global justice? Rawls
theory of justice. Rawls theory of a law of
peoples a critique

• Göran Collste
• Centre for Applied Ethics

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just-making properties

• Equality
• Liberty
• Human rights

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Different meanings of justice

• Rectifying justice injustice is done-correction
  is needed
• Retributive justice someone has inflicted harm
  punishment needed
• Distributive justice distribution of values or
  disvalues

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• John Rawls A Theory of Justice (1971)
• Justice is the first virtue of social
  institutions, as truth is of systems of thought
  (p3)

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• The primary subject of justice is the basic
  structure of society ( economic and political
  institutions)
• The aim of justice to compensate for the outcome
  of the natural lottery

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Rawls method

• 1. Choice of principles under the veil of
  ignorance
• Rationality
• Maximin rule rank alternatives by the worst
  possible outcome (you can belong to the
  lowest/poorest group in the real society)
• Cohere with a sense of justice, moral intuitions
  that we have about justice
• 2. Apply the principles to the real, existing
  society (basic structure) as moral guidance

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Rawls two principles of justice

• First principle
• Each person is to have an equal right to the most
  extensive total system of equal basic liberties
  compatible with a similar system of liberty for
  all
• Second principle
• Social and economic inequalities are to be
  arranged so that they are both
• (a) to the greatest benefit of the least
  advantaged, consistent with the just savings
  principle, and
• (b) attached to offices and positions open to all
  under conditions of fair equality of opportunity
  (Rawls, 1971 p. 303)
• justice as fairness

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• Libertarian critique Rawls redistribution/taxati
  on threatens freedom and property rights (Nozick)
• Communitarian critique Justice is understood and
  anchored in different communities (Sandel, Walzer)

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Political Liberalism 1993

• a theory of justice for plural societies (in
  contrast to comprehensive liberalism)
• .. the same principles are chosen for plural
  societies under a veil of ignorance
• butNot a universal rationality but overlapping
  consensus justification based on different
  comprehensive doctrines

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Justice in an age of globalisation?

• Jan Aart Scholte political theory and political
  philosophy suffer from methodological
  territorialism

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Law of Peoples, (1993) 1999

• Law of Peoples, a particular political
  conception of right and justice that applies to
  the principles and norms of international law and
  practice
• A realistic utopia

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Two original positions/contracts

• 1) Within each liberal society
• 2) Global contract between different peoples
  but not a world state

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Rawls Law of Peoples

• Peoples are ..
• free and independent
• Observe treaties
• equal
• Duty of non-interference
• Right of self-defence
• Honour human rights
• Restrictions in the conduct of war
• Duty of assistance

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but not the Difference principle (Rawls)

• Social and economic inequalities are to be
  arranged so that they are both, (a) to the
  greatest benefit of the least advantaged and (b)
  attached to offices and positions open to all
  under conditions of fair equality and opportunity

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Global inequality

• 582 million earn 146 billion 200 persons earn
  1042 billion
• 1 billion lack clean water
• 2.4 billion have insufficient sanitary equipment
• 1 billion people (out of six) earn less than
  1/day 3 billion less than 2/day

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BNP/capita
Norberg 2007
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Income/capita
UNDP 2003
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• implications of applying the idea of the natural
  lottery globally?
• But Rawls says no, Why?

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Rawls argument against global difference
principle

• each society has the potential of its own to
  realise justice
• one should not assume that liberal notions of
  human nature and of distributive justice are
  acceptable to every people in the world
• global inequality is not caused by unequal
  natural resources but by differences in political
  culture.
• no target or cutoff point..
• Rawlss alternative a duty of assistence

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Questionable assumptions

• Poverty in the Third world is not related to
  involuntary economic and political dependence on
  the part of the poorer nations
• Rawls assumes that a people can be considered as
  a unit
• Rawls assumes that poverty is not the result of a
  lack of natural resources or of traditions or
  cultures that now living peoples have not chosen
• The duty of assistance do not question the global
  structure