The Boundaries of Justice

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed a remarkable resurgence of work on the theory of distributive justice. Yet this revival of interest in an ancient topic-a revival engaging philosophers, political scientists, economists, lawyers, and othershas taken place within certain key simplifying assumptions. The central preoccupation has been the design of social institutions under ideal conditions within a given society and, principally, within a given generation. Like protectionist trade barriers, the spatial boundaries around the nation-state, and the temporal boundaries around the current generations within it, have protected the fragile first stages of development. These barriers have insulated theories of justice from distracting and, in many cases, disturbing complications that would arise were the boundaries to be crossed. This initial stage now seems to have passed. The books under review are distinctive because, in one way or another, they suggest some of the complexities that arise when the boundaries just mentioned are crossed: when assumptions that have achieved currency for intranational justice are applied internationally, when assumptions that have achieved currency for intragenerational justice are applied intergenerationally, and when those that have achieved currency for the