Global Justice
Module Code: PO8015
Module Name: Global Justice
- ECTS Weighting: 5
- Semester/Term Taught: Hilary
- Module Personnel: Lecturer - Professor Peter Stone
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Recognize four distinct types of questions relating to global justice.
- Demonstrate understanding of some different approaches used to address those questions.
- Apply this understanding to real-world problems of international relations.
- Make and criticize arguments regarding how our international system ought to function, and what our obligations in that system ought to be.
Module Learning Aims
As the third millennium begins, many of the most important moral problems facing the human race transcend national boundaries. Climate change, terrorism, pandemics, human rights, humanitarian intervention—all raise questions that are difficult to answer in a purely national context. For this reason, the concerned moral agent increasingly needs to take on a global perspective. Politics, in the words of the political scientist Harold Lasswell, is all about who gets what, when, and how. In that sense, all of these global problems are deeply political. Either they concern questions of who is entitled to what (rights, opportunities, material goods) or else they involve figuring out what to do when someone’s entitlements are violated (through war or terrorism, for example). The moral principles that govern who gets what, when, and how are principles of justice. Addressing the moral problems of our day thus requires principles of global justice. These principles will be the focus of the module.
Module Content
In this module, students will examine contemporary debates within political theory relating to global justice. Some of those debates address questions at a social level. What obligations does the First World have towards the Third? What makes a war a just war? Other debates deal with questions of individual political obligation. If global poverty is unjust, how much money should I be giving to Oxfam? Each student will sample the relevant literature surrounding these questions, and use that literature to examine a topic of his/her own choosing through a seminar paper.
Recommended Reading List
In addition, there will be a number of readings assigned from political philosophy/theory journals, notably Philosophy and Public Affairs, and can be found online through the usual sources (JSTOR, etc.).
Assessment Details
Students are expected to attend seminar each week and to participate in informed discussions of the readings. Participation will count for 20% of the grade.
Students are expected to submit short (1-2 pages) papers in weeks 2-5 on the readings for the week. These papers should be submitted through Turnitin. Each paper should make one (and only) one point about the readings. The point you make is up to you; you can attack one of the readings, defend it, relate two readings together, draw policy implications from the readings—you get the idea. Papers are due at 5 PM the day before the class in which the readings will be discussed. Each short paper counts for 5% of the grade.
Each student will also write a short seminar paper (12-15 pages) addressing a topic of his/her choosing related to global justice. All topics must be approved by the instructor. The paper will count for 60% of the course grade. All papers must be submitted through Turnitin
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