Introduction to Social Rights on Global and National Levels

Abstract

Calls for a more just international economic order are on nearly everyone’s lips today and there are probably not many people who are honestly convinced that the existing order is beyond suspicion. The globalized economy is criticised as unjust mainly on account of its social effects, that is to say, in the name of social justice. The question whether social justice can be achieved in a globalized world is still disputed in philosophical debates, however, while the definition of its adequate criteria gives rise to far-reaching controversies. As Peter Koller calls to mind, the idea of justice tends to a successive widening of its scope. In its original understanding, the concept applies to specific types of human action, such as the distribution of common goods, the performance of exchanges, and the correction of wrongdoings. In the course of modern history, it has been extended to more complex social arrangements, such as political organisations, social institutions, and legal practices. Around the turn of the twentieth century, it became common to talk about “social justice” in relation to entire societal orders. Currently, there is a further widening of the idea in regard to the global order, i.e., the growing discussion on “international and global justice”. While this expansion of the idea of justice reflects the need for adapting our common moral standards to an ongoing process of social change, it seems, however, to result in a loss of its clarity.