Global Justice in a Democratic World : Contemporary Liberal Theories

The theories of justice developed by Rawls, Sen and Nussbaum are examined in this book, which sets a goal to perform a comparative analysis of these theories and to demonstrate their mutual relationships. All three liberal theories significantly enrich the set of fundamental principles of morality that concerns the sphere of political action. The novelty of the Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capability approach in comparison with Rawls is that they discuss the problem of social justice on a global scale in their own original way. They do not try to extend and adjust the two principles of justice to the whole mankind nor they treat the difference principle as to be applied everywhere. Instead, they present their own cosmopolitan ways to apply their theories of justice to take into account issues which are neglected or insufficiently developed by Rawls, such as global inequalities, the discrimination of women, the rights of people with disabilities and animal rights. These theories can be described as answer to this crucial objection towards the Rawls’ work that this theory of justice does not solve these important global problems.