B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
GLOBALISATION AND
THEORIES OF JUSTICE
PROF. BENEDETTA GIOVANOLA
UNIVERSITY OF MACERATA
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE,
COMMUNICATION AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A.A. 2015-16
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Justice
v  a special type of moral concern
v  a normative concern: what people ought to
get and to give
v  moral entitlements
v  moral duties
v  a concern on benefits and burdens of social
cooperation
v  distributive dimension: social or distributive
justice
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Justice
v  principles of justice: how the benefits and
burdens of living together are to be shared
between us:
v  principles of justice as principles that play
constraints on the way in which we may
legitimately restrict one another’s freedom
v  Rights to spheres of freedom but not unlimited
freedom
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Theories of Justice
v  Public ethics / normative theory & political theory
v  What are our entitlements/duties in terms of justice?
Where do they come from?
v  Different accounts of justice
v  utilitarianism
v  (liberal) egalitarianism
v  …
v  Different issues of justice
v  Political rights/freedoms
v  Socioeconomic rights/duties
v  Human rights
v  …
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Globalisation and Theories of Justice
v  What is the impact of globalisation on (theories
of) justice?
v  How and why does globalisation impose us to
reframe the accounts and issues of justice?
v  Some examples of key-issues:
v  “post-democracy” (Crouch, 2004): states are loosing part
of their traditional power
v  increasing role of MNCs and global capitalism
v  nations/peoples/states
v  the “fact of pluralism” (Rawls, 1993) and the possibility of
inter-culturally shared values
v  international migration
v  …
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Globalisation and Theories of Justice
From social justice
to global justice...
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Globalisation and Theories of Justice
v  Key questions:
v  Should the demands of justice apply only at the
domestic level or are there demands of justice
that apply even beyond the boundaries of the
nation state?
v  Should the same principles of justice that apply
at the domestic level be extended at the global
level or should the principles be different?
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Teories of (social) justice
v  Utilitarianism: focus on utility
v  Libertarianism: focus on individual freedom
v  Communitarianism: focus on the community
v  Liberal egalitarianism: individual freedom
and social equality (fairness)
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main features
v  Utilitarianism has been for a long time the prevailing
normative framework for the evaluation of states of affairs
and social arrangements
v  According to utilitarianism a just society is a happy
society, or a society that maximizes social utility
v  It was born as an ethical theory thanks to Jeremy
Bentham (1748-1832)
v  It is a consequentialist ethical theory
v  It is a welfarist consequentialism
v  It is at the same time individualistic and antiindividualistic (sum-ranking and aggregation)
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main features
v Classical utilitarianism: utility as pleasure
(hedonism)
v Neoutilitarianism: utility as preference
satisfaction (Harsanyi)
v Classical utilitarianism: social welfare as
(aggregate) sum-ranking of individual levels of
well-being
v Neoutilitarianism: social welfare as average utility
level
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main features
v Classical utilitarianism = act utilitarianism: a
morally right act is one that, in the situation the
actor is actually in, will maximize social utility
v Neoutilitarianism = rule utilitarianism: a
morally right act is one that:
o  conforms to the correct moral rule applicable to this
sort of situation
o  whereas the correct moral rule is that particular
behavioral rule that would maximize social utility if it
were followed by everybody in all social situations of
this particular type
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main problems
v  Well-being/utility as pleasure-happiness:
o  Strength: pleasure is surely good for us
o  Weaknesses:
-  “experience machine” and a Matrix-like world
(Nozick, 1974)
-  Mental adaptation (Sen, 1999)
-  Radical subjectivism
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main problems
v  Well-being/utility as preference
satisfaction
o  1 – Actual preferences
o  Strength: measurability (by observing people’s
choices)
o  Weaknesses:
-  Misinformation
-  Akrasia
-  Preference for state of affairs that could make
me worse rather than better off
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main problems
v  Well-being/utility
as preference
satisfaction
o  2 – Laundered-rational-informed
preferences
o Strength: increased plausibility
o Weaknesses:
- Other-regarding vs self-regarding preferences
(what is ultimately good for a person)
- Preference changes (what is ultimately good for a
person)
- Do people really prefer what is good for them?
(what is ultimately good for a person)
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Utilitarianism:
main problems
v Distributive dimension and problems regarding unjust
inequalities (social justice)
v Efficiency prevails against equity (fairness), that is, a
well-arranged society is to be preferred to a wellordered society (vs. Rawls)
v Fundamental issues, such as rights, become mere
instruments for the pursuit of utility maximisation
v Strong subjectivism
v Narrow understanding of the human being, merely
seen as utility maximizer
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Libertarianism:
main features
v  Focus on individual liberty and individual
rights (Nozick, 1974)
v  A just society is a free society
v  A society is just if and only if everyone in that
society is entitled to what he/she has (Nozick:
entitlement theory)
v  Coherent system of property rights
v  Minimal state: the role of governments is
restricted to the protection of property rights
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Libertarianism:
main features
1.  Principle of self-ownership
u  sovereignty of the individual: agents fully own
themselves and have right to their lives, talents and
the fruits of their labour
o  no coercion (for example: the case of prostitution,
euthanasia, organ trade, etc.)
u  only three restrictions to self-ownership:
1.  no self-slavery, even if it were the outcome of a free choice
2.  paternalism towards young children and restriction of their
liberty
3.  restriction of self-ownership of those who endanger
someone else’s liberty
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Libertarianism:
main features
2.  Principles regulating property rights in
external things
u  principle of justice in acquisition:
o  the first people to acquire some part of the material
world should exclude others from it, but why?
o  Lockean provision and compensation: an exclusive
acquisition of the external world is just, if, after the
acquisition, there is “enough and as good left in
common for others”
u  principle of justice in transfer: voluntary
transaction and fair contracts (no misinformation,
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Libertarianism:
main features
u  principle of rectification for past injustice
(applying to acquisitions or transfers that do not
satisfy the principle of just acquisition or the
principle of just transfer) :
o 
information about the actual course of events +
historical information
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Libertarianism:
main problems
v  The identified principles of justice are very
controversial and not suitable for practical purposes:
the details of injustices are not available and, even if
they were available, the counterfactual causal chains
could not be reliably determined
v  No consideration for the outcomes of distribution
v  No consideration for the configuration of distribution
v  Retrospective focus and no concern for a “better”
society
v  Anarcho-capitalism and neoliberism
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Libertarianism:
main problems
v  Problem
of efficiency
v  Problem of (in)equality
v  Problem of freedom
o  formal freedom vs real freedom (for each and
every individual)
o  Fetishism of natural rights rather than a really free
society
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Communitarianism:
main features
v  Focus on the community (Sandel, Taylor)
v  Narrative conception of the self (MacIntyre: story
of my life as embedded in the story of those
communities from which I derive my identity)
v  Obligations of membership, solidarity (in addition
to voluntary and universal duties)
v  Focus on social pre-conditions of selfdetermination
v  Non-neutrality and politics of the common good
v  Substantive conception of the good life
B. Giovanola, Globalisation and Theories of Justice, a.a. 2015-16
Communitarianism:
main problems
v  Personal autonomy and self-determination
v  Self as the outcome of a “discovery” rather than
of a choice
v  Moral arbitrariness of our belongings (the
country, the family we where born in, etc.)
v  Politics of the common good vs. minority rights?
what about minorities that not share the prevailing
(=community based) idea of the common good/
good life?
v  The problem of paternalism