PHIL 310

Political Philosophy 3


Please note: this is archived course information from 2016 for PHIL 310.

Description

This course examines issues related to global justice, such as: What, if anything, are people owed as a matter of justice in the global context? If there are duties of justice, what grounds these? Is distribution to assist the global disadvantaged justified? If so, on what basis should distribution proceed? Are global taxes defensible? Is global equality of opportunity an important ideal? Which restrictions on immigration, if any, are justified? Are protectionist policies in trade justified? Can globalisation be better harnessed to assist the global poor? How can we better assist those in poor countries who are trying to help themselves?

In the latter part of the course we will consider issues concerning the basis and limits of sovereignty and issues related to when (if ever) intervention is justified at the international level. Some questions considered here include: Is military intervention ever justified for humanitarian purposes (such as, in recent years in the case of Rwanda)? Can preventive or pre-emptive war ever be justified using the just war framework? Issues of global governance and democracy at the global level will also be considered.

Availability 2016

Semester 2

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Professor Gillian Brock

Recommended Reading

Gillian Brock, Global Justice: A Cosmopolitan Account (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)

Assessment

Coursework + exam

Points

PHIL 310: 15 points

Prerequisites

30 points at Stage II in Philosophy or Political Studies or Politics and International Relations