Global Justice: Poverty, Inequality and the Environment

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Be in a position to evaluate differing claims about obligations to fellow nationals and towards humanity as a whole.
• Have a critical understanding of a range of theoretical positions on global justice.
• Have a good level of understanding of a series of contemporary normative debates relating to, for instance, international trade, migration and the protection of the global environment.

The module begins by examining a variety of positions on global

distributive justice, and goes on to consider a series of contemporary debates on issues such as:

• Global poverty. Who, in anyone, has a responsibility to attempt to alleviate it? On what basis?

Global inequality. Do global inequalities matter in themselves? Should we try to reduce them? Why?

• Climate change and ecological degradation. What, if anything, can contemporary theories of justice contribute towards an account of the justice of the environment?
• Resource ownership. Should theorists of justice treat current patterns of ownership of the world’s resources as a given, or should they suggest alternatives? What might these be?

Teaching and learning methods

Coursework

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Bell, Duncan (2010). Ethics and World Politics. Oxford University Press.

Armstrong, Chris (2012). Global Distributive Justice. Cambridge University Press.

Brooks, Thom (ed) (2008). The Global Justice Reader. Blackwell.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External