Global Justice | Beitz

Beitz is a cosmopolitan idaelist. Most of her philosophy centers around addressing distributive injustice and reforming the principles of global distributive justice that were given by Rawls.

What are the two overarching claims that Beitz makes?

The two overarching claims that Beitz makes are:

1. People in different countries have significant obligations of justice to one another

2. If you accept Rawls’s theory of justice, then you should think it applies to everyone globally

We should not adopt Rawls’s model of the international original position. But even if we did, we should still think international relations should be governed by more demanding principles of justice than Rawls acknowledges.

In essence, global economic interdependence constitutes a scheme of social cooperation, so the principles of distributive justice apply globally.

What were Rawls’s suggested principles of international justice?

1. States have the right to self-determination

2. States have the right to self-defense.

3. States should keep their treaties (so long as they are consistent with the other principles of international justice)

4. Even when fighting a just war, states should observe jus in bello restrictions

True or False: Beitz thinks that Rawls’s principles for adjudicating resources are fair

FALSE.

Parties in Rawls’s international original position would agree on a principle for the equitable distribution of benefits from extracting and using natural resources.

What is Beitz’s argument for distribution for a law of principles adjudicating resources? How does the argument rely on the morality of the distribution of resources and does it have an analogue in the Rawlsian original position?

The Distribution of natural resources is morally arbitrary, much like the distribution of natural talents, and also potentially affects people’s life prospects significantly.

Hence, justice requires redistributing resources to mitigate the effects of the distribution of natural resources on people’s lives.

1. The initial distribution of natural resources is morally arbitrary

2. You don’t have a right to appropriate a resource just because you live near it

3. Determining whether you have a legitimate claim to appropriate a resource requires taking into account others’ potentially competing claims.

What is the initial standard for adjudication of natural resources according to Beitz? Are there any acceptable deviations from this initial standard?

According to Beitz, the initial standard is that each person has an equal prima facie claim to a share of the total available resources, but departures from this initial standard can be justified (analogously to the operation of the difference principle) if the resulting inequalities were to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged.

What does Beitz believe about the dependency of states?

What are some benefits and burdens created by global interdependence?

1. Aggregate economic growth

2. Political inequality among qualities

3. Increased domestic inequality

How does Beitz think that the benefits and burdens of social and economic inequality should be arranged?

Beitz’s global difference principle says that social and economic inequalities should be arranged to be for the greatest benefit of the least advantaged

When does Beitz think that the resource distribution begins to apply?

There is a threshold of interdependence below which the difference principle does not apply. Even if the broad system of social cooperation contains pockets with even denser networks of social cooperation.

Suppose we have two countries, A and B, and they are internally just and completely self-sufficient. The worst-off people in A are better off than the worst-off people in B.

a. Does the difference principle apply? Why or why not?

b. Now suppose they make a single trade, trading apples for pears. Is redistribution warranted? Why or why not?

a. The difference principle does not apply because the point of the difference principle is to fairly distribute the benefits and burdens of social cooperation, and A and B are self-sufficient.

b. Even though there is now a trade, almost none of A’s wealth can be attributed to social cooperation with B, so the distribution principle does not apply.

Name the two principles of justice that Beitz defends

1. The resource distribution principle

2. The global difference principle

Name and explain the two principles of global justice that Beitz defends.

1. Resource redistribution principle: Each person has an equal prima facie claim to a share of total available resources, but departures from this could be justified if the resulting inequalities are to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged by the inequality.

2. Global difference principle: Social and economic inequalities should be arranged so that they are to the greatest expected benefit of the least advantaged persons in the world.

Name/explain two policy recommendations that Beitz makes

1. Wealthy countries should increase foreign aid and recognize that it is a requirement of justice, not charity

2. Policymakers should focus on improving the lives of the worst-off individuals (global difference principle).

3. We should reform the rules of international finance/trade to remedy global distributive injustice (such as preferential tariffs or claims to IMF special drawing rights for the poorer nations)

4. People should be recognized as morally justified in refusing to fight their country’s wars if said wars perpetuate global distributive injustice.