Global Justice and Globalization

Global Justice and Globalization

1. The ethical justification of globalization rests upon its promise to improve living conditions for people around the world.

2. The ethical justification of globalization rests upon its promise to improve living conditions for people around the world.

3. Fair trade

   • It helps disadvantaged people in the developing world by buying goods that are produced in beneficial and nonexploitative conditions.

4. Ethical consumption

   • To pay more for clothing and other products that are not produced in sweatshops.

5. Globalization

   • It's the process through which the world’s business, cultural, and political systems are becoming more integrated.
   • It includes the growing interconnection of local and national economies.
   • The world is increasingly integrated.

6. Global justice

   • It's focused on the moral question of the underlying fairness and justice of the current globalized situation.
   • It's directed toward the universal concerns of all citizens of the world.
     • E.g. Poverty and inequalities across the globe.

7. Moral arguments about global poverty

   • If there is a moral duty to help the poor, then it would be wrong not to help them.
     • If it's wrong not to help the poor, then we should feel guilty if we don't help them.
   • Garrett Hardin
     • He believes that we have no obligation to give to the poor because to do so will do no good.
   • Peter Singer
     • Our individual responsibility cannot be diffused by the fact that there are lots of others who could also help.
   • Global utilitarianism in global poverty
     • It's concerned with the suffering of mass numbers of the global poor.
   • Thomas Aquinas
     • He said that it's immoral for those with a superabundance of food to withhold assistance to the needy.
   • Self-Interest
     • Other people’s poverty can have negative consequences for our own selfinterested concerns.
     • In terms of self-interest, we may be concerned about the impact of global poverty on the environment.
     • Also new infectious diseases often break out in impoverished areas
   • Justice
     • Process view
       • Any distribution can be just if the process by which it comes to be is just.
     • End-state justice
       • According to this how things have turned out, is also relevant.
   • Rights
     • Prohibitions on child labor, enforcement of women’s rights, prevention of deforestation and pollution.
     • As the global economy is becoming more integrated, many would argue that this integration must be based upon ideas about human rights.

8. Practical considerations

   • Global Inequality
     • Our relative wealth means that we can alleviate lots of suffering for a minor cost.
     • Poverty that kills
       • People in extreme poverty are “chronically hungry, unable to get health care, cannot afford education for their children, etc.
       • Children of the global poor are particularly vulnerable.
   • Levels of International Aid
     • The rich nations of the world do allocate some of their budgets to the alleviation of global poverty and inequality.
   • Causes of Global Poverty
     • Colonialism
       • Fanon’s idea
         • The Western nations stole the riches of their colonies, thus enhancing their own wealth while depressing the wealth of the colonies.
       • D’Souza maintains that colonialism may have been good for the colonized countries.
         • The corruption, injustice, and poverty found in the Third World are not the result of European exploitation.
     • Farm Subsidies and Other Trade Barriers
       • Substantial evidence suggests that reducing subsidies and removing trade barriers would help end poverty.
     • Institutional Issues
       • Critics of the economic institutions of globalization
         • They are opposed to that type of globalization that is more concerned about the rights of investors than the rights of workers.
       • Defenders
         • They argue that investing in and supporting the current economic system is the best way to help poor people.
   • Solutions and Progress
     • Thomas Pogge
       • He proposed a resource tax
     • Peter Singer
       • He thought that we have a duty to donate to charity.
     • Jeffrey Sachs
       • He argued that we should focus on 5 “development interventions”.

9. Globalization and its critics

   • Economic Impacts
     • Another perspective is concerned that the development of global culture poses a threat to traditional familial, cultural, and religious values.
     • Proponents of capitalism see globalization as a further stage of economic development.
   • Cultural Diversity
     • Some have argued that there is a clash of civilizations in the world today.
     • Western values dominate global culture.
       • Western-style clothing, advertising, products, etc.
     • Economic and political globalization poses a threat for traditional religion.