Introductory description

What does justice mean in the 21st (Christian) Century? How do we conceptualise justice given the exacerbating disparities of wealth and power, between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ of the world? Is justice, in theory and practice, a matter for national politics, global politics, or subaltern-decolonial politics?

This course explores the emergent discourse concerning global justice within the context of a ‘globalised’ political economy. In doing so, it critically examines the relevance of political-legal theory to the contemporary realities of domination and oppression. In particular, it addresses the debate between libertarian, utilitarian, cosmopolitan and decolonial approaches in the specific contexts of reparative and redistributive international justice. It relates human rights to impoverishment and traces the recent histories of de-globalisation movements as grassroots efforts to reclaim imaginaries of judgement and justice. In addition, the question of global cognitive justice, or put differently, the politics of knowledge, will also be of concern. Specific ‘case studies’ may be selected to form the basis of project work – these might include migration, environmental justice, humanitarianism, and global ‘constitutionalism’ etc. Crucially, the course interrogates justice from the perspective of the ‘global rightless’.

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Session 1: Before Justice: Contested Totalities This session will explore some basic precepts of justice and the ways in which notions of the ‘normal’, the ‘ideal’, impinge on our understanding of the ideas of ‘justice’ and ‘injustice’.

Session 2: Relationalities of Global (In)Justice The focus of this session will be to critically examine key theoretical debates on the concept and implications of ‘global justice’. A particular emphasis will be on the apparent conflict between the so-called ‘cosmopolitan’ and ‘political’ conceptions of ‘justice’ as they relate to different understandings of the political bases for social relationality and their implications.

Session 3: Agents of (In)Justice? Who is responsible to enact justice under conditions of injustice? Our focus in this session is to explore understandings of responsibility of/for (in)justice beyond the limits of State and International Law.

Session 4: Re-Membering (In)Justice? How do we return (in)justice to communities of suffering? How do we remember pasts and anticipate futures? In this session we explore the issues of historical violations and contemporary transitions, of memory/forgetting and social/institutional settlement, of (in)justice named or silenced.

Session 5: The Work of Global Justice In this session we interrogate the social functions and implications of 'justice'-work. We consider how the theories and movements for global justice operate in the world, either as a mechanism of normalisation, or of rupture. What is achieved? What is denied? How does 'justice' impinge on the pasts, presents and futures of social relations? In what ways do global justice thinking normalise the coloniality of power? These are some questions we will address.

Session 6: Incommensurable Judgements? Who defines the terms of (in)justice, its normalities and its limits? What happens when the voice and work of justice is appropriated by communities of struggle? Does the idea and practice of justice sit comfortably with the authority of the violated? In this session we consider the implications of the judgements of the violated against the normalities of (in)justice.

Session 7: Project Presentations.

Session 8: Beyond Justice? In this session we peer into other conceptions and cosmologies of relationships and consider how these might or might not translate to the theory/practice of justice. Our concern here is to open our thinking to other possibilities of understanding the responsibilities of human-beingness.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the emerging discourses of global justice.
• Demonstrate a substantive appreciation of the different theoretical approaches to global justice, and on their respective constructions of political relationality in the specific contexts of reparative and redistributive international justice.
• Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in groups to examine specific topics related to the module
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective written and oral presentation skills
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to assess critically the legal, political and philosophical texts relating to the subject of global justice and to appreciate the contexts of the debates in the area.
• Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and drafting skills in relation to texts pertaining to issues of global justice

Indicative reading list

Agamben, Giorgio, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life (1995; Stanford, Stanford
University Press)
Appadurai, Arjun, (Ed.) Globalization (2001; Durham, Duke University Press)
Bauman, Zygmunt, Globalization: The Human Consequences (1990; Cambridge, Polity)
Beck, Ulrich, The Risk Society (1992; London, Routledge)
Braithwaite, John & Drahos, Peter, Global Business Regulation (2000, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press)
Chua, Amy (2003) The World on Fire (London, William Heinemann)
Davis, Mike, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World
(London, Verso, 2001)
Edwards, Michael and Gaventa, John (Eds.) Global Citizen Action 2001; London, Earthscan
Publications)
Pogge, Thomas, (1992) "Cosmopolitanism and Sovereignty" Ethics, 103(1), pp. 48-75
Nagel, Thomas (2005) "The Problem of Global Justice", Philosophy & Public Affairs 33(2)
Sangiovanni, Andrea (2007) "Global Justice, Reciprocity and the State", Philosophy & Public
Affairs, 35(1), pp. 3-39
Young, Iris Marion (2006) "Responsibility and Global Justice: A Social Connection Model" Social
Philosophy and Policy, 23, pp. 102-130
Riise, Mathias (2005) "What Do We Owe the Global Poor", The Journal of Ethics 9, pp. 81-117
Tan, Celine (2007), “The Poverty of Amnesia: PRSP’s in the Legacy of Structural Adjustment”, in
Stone, D. and Wright, C. (eds), The World Bank and Governance: A decade of Reform and
Reaction, (Routledge, London), pp. 147-67
Hyden, Goran (2007), “Governance and Poverty Reduction in Africa”, PNAS, Vol. 104 (43), pp.
16751-56
Nussbaum, Martha, Women and Development (2000, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)
Mignolo, Walter D. (2006), “Citizenship, Knowledge and the Limits of Humanity”, American Literary History, pp. 312-31, at http://www.iuperj.br/conference/arquivos/walter%20mignolo.pdf Pogge, Thomas (2007), “Severe Poverty as a Human Rights Violation”, in Pogge, Thomas (ed), Freedom From Poverty as a Human Right, (Oxford Uni. Press, Oxford), pp. 11-53 Feyter, Koen De, World Development Law: Sharing Responsibility for Development (2001; Antwerp, Intersentia Escobar, Arturo. Encountering Development: The Making and the Unmaking of the Third World (1995; Princeton, Princeton University Press)

Research element

Students are expected to formulate their essay topics based on independent research from the thematics covered in the course.

Interdisciplinary

The module is substantively interdisciplinary, utilising literature and analysis derived from diverse social science perspectives.

International

The module is by definition, design and intent substantively focussed on international issues, specifically with a focus on the global south.

Subject specific skills

Subject knowledge and understanding
Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the emerging
discourses of global justice.

Demonstrate a substantive appreciation of the different
theoretical approaches to global justice, and on their
respective constructions of political relationality in the
specific contexts of reparative and redistributive
international justice.

Cognitive Skills

Demonstrate an advanced ability to assess critically the
legal, political and philosophical texts relating to the
subject of global justice and to appreciate the contexts
of the debates in the area.

Subject-Specific/Professional Skills
Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and
drafting skills in relation to texts pertaining to issues of
global justice

Transferable skills

Key Skills
Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in groups to
examine specific topics related to the module

Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective
written and oral presentation skills