Justice Discourse Research Articles

Decolonising Environmental Justice

Abstract This article explores the practices and discourses of environmental justice in Iranian Kurdistan/Rojhelat. In the face of unprecedented destruction of the natural environment, Kurdish people, including a significant number of women, organise themselves to defend ecosystems, lakes, rivers, and forests, making them part of the global environmental justice movement. Local communities face growing challenges such as water scarcity, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, exploitation of natural resources, and pollution, which directly affect their lives and health. Drawing on decolonial and critical perspectives of environmental justice studies, we ask how Kurdish activists understand the concepts of “justice” and “environment” in the context of discriminatory practices of the capitalist, patriarchal, and authoritarian Iranian state. Based on interviews and fieldwork in the region, this article argues that the global environmental justice movement should pay closer attention to the contextual realities of the subaltern, their aims and ideas related to nature, justice, and women empowerment.

Iusphilosophical Paradigms as Theoretical Guides in Law and Justice Discourse

The Philosophy of Law has delineated its trajectories through debates concerning the very nature of law and its interactions with other normative systems. This has involved addressing the tensions arising from ontological, epistemological, and ethical aspects (Alexy, 2008) throughout the historyof law. In the ethical dimension, one of these debates focuses on the relationship between law and justice, a tension that has decisively influenced both the concept and practice of law. This is an attempt to delineate a path regarding the state of the problem and to strengthen students’ critical thinking skills and their ability to find a connection between philosophy, law and the paradigm ofjustice.

Social justice as nursing resistance: a foucauldian discourse analysis within emergency departments.

Social justice is consistently upheld as a central value within the nursing profession, yet there are persistent inconsistencies in how this construct is conceptualized, further compounded by a lack of empirical inquiry into how nurses enact social justice in everyday practice. In the current context in which structural inequities are perpetuated throughout the health care system, and the emergency department in particular, it is crucial to understand how nurses understand and enact social justice as a disciplinary commitment. This research examines how nurses' talk and institutional texts discursively construct social justice within the institutional context of the emergency department, and how such discourses shape the enactment of social justice within nursing practice. Guided by Iris Marion Young's theorizing of distributive and systemic social justice paradigms, this Foucauldian discourse analysis draws on emergency department nurses' talk (N = 25 interviews) and institutional documents (N = 27) as key texts that visibilize dominant and excluded discourses of social justice within the institutional context of the emergency department, and implications for how social justice is enacted through nursing practices. This analysis identified one overarching discursive pattern, in which social justice was discursively constructed through a hegemonic distributive paradigm, yet also resisted through nurses' conceptualization and enactment of a systemic social justice paradigm that facilitated their recognition and remediation of inequities. This central discursive pattern is explored through three exemplars of nurses' enactment of social justice as resistance: triage, harm reduction, and care planning. Findings from this analysis demonstrate that while a hegemonic distributive paradigm has dominated conceptualizations of social justice within nursing, a re-construction of social justice through a systemic paradigm may guide nurses in enacting practices that remediate inequities in health and health care.

Views of Arundhati Roy on Political, Genre, and Canonical Writers

This research paper examines the non-fictional works of Arundhati Roy through the lens of the notion of 'justice'. Justice is a crucial concept in every culture or political system. The past demonstrates that justice transcends language and cultural divides. Democracy encompasses the concept of justice thoroughly and inclusively, providing equal opportunity for all individuals in a community. The notion of democracy is included by the idea of justice. This project argues that the nonfictional works of Arundhati Roy may be analysed as discourse of justice, given their significant contribution to broader discussions on justice.

Gaseous politics: contradictions and moral frontiers of the energy transition in Ghana

In Ghana, new oil and gas discoveries at a time of global decarbonization and energy transition have put into question the viability of the country’s hydrocarbon reserves and their promises of prosperity and development. As the country anticipates stranded assets, a discourse of carbon justice has emerged around new oil and gas extraction that emphasizes differentiated responsibilities for carbon emissions and colonial legacies of energy underdevelopment. In this paper, I explore the assemblage of what I call the “moral frontiers” of the energy transition through the case of natural gas expansion. I focus on the Atuabo gas processing plant in Ghana’s Western region, built in 2016 during an acute energy crisis to provide indigenous gas from the oilfields to the grid. Amidst growing opposition to and declining investment in oil, natural gas at Atuabo is presented as a “bridging fuel” that reconciles, physically and ethically, the contradictions of global decarbonization imperatives with local demands for industrialization, energy access, security and sovereignty. Through the materiality of gas infrastructure at Atuabo – including the land acquisition process, the take-or-pay contracts of its IPPs, the operations of the plant and its applications, and the contested environmental impact of the plant – I argue that gas’ liminality as a transition or bridge fuel reshapes the moral and political possibilities of fossil fuels in a global but unequal energy transition.

Rising to the challenge: a systematic review of development of environmental justice in India

ABSTRACT Environmental justice has experienced rapid expansion in its scope and conceptualization in the last three decades. Literature on environmental justice narrates how individuals and communities mobilize to confront economic and environmental issues at the local, national, and global levels and how globalization, gender, racism, and class affect the environment. This article presents a systematic review of environmental justice in India, aimed at showing how the concept originated and came into common parlance and how it differs or actually resembles now a lot with the environmental justice discourse in the United States. The focus of this study is on various salient events that are crucial in the development of a well-established movement. The review contends that environmental justice may have only recently become a recognized concept in Indian environmental history, as a philosophy, it has been a mainstay of Indian environmental consciousness. India has an indigenous environmental justice movement, albeit not on the lines of the US. This review also suggests that the discourse on environmental justice in India is currently shaped by both global environmental justice movements as well as indigenous efforts and concerns about environmental challenges.

Social justice in Canadian nursing professional documents: A Foucauldian discourse analysis.

Social justice is widely advanced as a central nursing value, and yet conceptual understandings of social justice remain inconsistent and vague. Further, despite persistently articulated commitments to upholding social justice, the profession of nursing has been implicated in perpetuating inequities in health and health care. In this context, it is essential to establish both conceptual clarity and tangible guidance for nurses in enacting practices to advance social justice-particularly through regulatory, education and accreditation documents that shape the nursing profession. This Foucauldian discourse analysis examines how social justice is discursively positioned within nursing professional documents in Canada, and illustrates that social justice was largely discursively excluded from these texts. Where social justice discourses were invoked, we identified that four central discursive patterns obscured and de-centred this nursing value: (i) Vague language undermined professional commitments to social justice; (ii) Constructions of knowledge and awareness de-emphasized practice; (iii) Individualism discourses minimized institutional/professional responsibility; and (iv) Aspirational language obscured present action. Extending from this analysis, we contend that the nursing profession must re-examine how social justice is understood and articulated, and call for a re-conceptualization of social justice grounded in nursing practice toward remediating inequities in health and health care.

Introducing boards to the equity conversation: State-level governing boards and discourses of social justice.

Introducing boards to the equity conversation: State-level governing boards and discourses of social justice.

ANALISIS YURIDIS PEMENUHAN HAK PELAYANAN PUBLIK BAGI PENYANDANG DISABILITAS KABUPATEN JEMBER

Public transportation plays a crucial role in the social and economic structure of cities worldwide by providing access to various services and activities. An efficient transportation system supports mobility in employment, education, healthcare, and recreation, and contributes to inclusive and sustainable urban development. However, individuals with disabilities often face barriers to accessing public transportation, both physical, such as the lack of disability-friendly facilities, and non-physical, such as insufficient staff training and supportive policies. These limitations hinder full participation of individuals with disabilities in society and widen the gap in life opportunities. In Indonesia, issues of inclusion and accessibility for people with disabilities are central to human rights and social justice discourse. Although legislative progress has been made, field practices often remain suboptimal. Regulations such as Article 12 (e) of Regional Regulation No. 7 of 2016 and Law No. 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities provide a legal framework for accessibility, yet implementation on the ground still faces gaps. This study highlights the importance of improving legal protection and enhancing accessibility at public transportation stops in Jember Regency, aiming to identify barriers faced by people with disabilities and provide a basis for advocating for more inclusive policy and infrastructure changes. This research underscores that improving accessibility not only meets practical needs but also ensures recognition and protection of the legal rights of people with disabilities for equal mobility and full participation in society.

Mobilising for change: the role of social movements in advancing climate justice

ABSTRACT Social movements play a key role in advancing climate justice. This article analyses three case studies and examines the role these movements play in implementing climate justice by mobilising communities, raising awareness, and advocating for policy change. It discusses how grassroots activism challenges power structures and drives change, highlighting three examples of movements in Commonwealth countries: Seed Mob in Australia, the Karachi Bachao Tehreek campaign in Pakistan, and RuralRevive in Namibia. By mobilising diverse stakeholders and leveraging media and technology, social movements advocate for systemic transformation and community resilience. However, they face constraints in driving transformative change. This paper advocates for greater recognition of their role in shaping climate justice discourse and practice while acknowledging their limitations.

Memanfaatkan Analisis Kritis untuk Menelaah Gagasan Green Law Daerah untuk Pengelolaan dan Perlindungan Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia

In today's criminal justice discourse, restorative justice has gained traction. A restorative justice system has been included into the institutional policy of several law enforcement agencies. Additionally, it is included in the 2020–2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN). Since restorative justice is beneficial to and compatible with environmental conservation, it has also been developed in the field of environmental law. In light of this, the present study examines restorative justice as a broad idea within the context of Indonesian environmental legislation. This paper also highlights issues and considers critically whether the normative juridical approach of restorative justice may be used to address environmental crimes.

Preventing Trivialization of Global Social Justice Discourse: A Framework of Critical Social Media Literacy

Growing scholarship emphasizes social media as potential platforms to facilitate social justice discourse, while others document simultaneous polarization and trivialization. With the objective of supporting educators, students, and community members, this article conceptualizes a framework of critical social media literacy (CSML) based upon Freirean pedagogy. While social media platforms exist in diverse formats, social media numbers in the form of likes, shares, and views emerge as common elements to influence social justice ideologies. Building upon this preliminary conceptualization, the framework proposes that students may benefit from understanding how social media numbers can: grant automatic, unfounded legitimacy; be mobilized toward not social justice but the pursuit of profit; be a prerequisite for visibility of content; replace critical thinking as ubiquitous metrics; lead to false sense of disorienting dilemmas; facilitate antagonization of nuanced perspectives; encourage conformity; and be directly purchased. Implications on conformity—and expanded thinking for students—conclude the study.

Towards just planning: on the relationship between procedural and distributive justice in local development actions

ABSTRACT Though scholars often argue that the relationship between procedural and distributive justice is crucial in planning practice, conceptual and empirical contributions are rare in the literature. In this paper, we suggest an analytical framework to better understand how procedural and distributive justice are interrelated in local development actions. Drawing on empirical findings from 22 case studies across Europe we identify promoting and inhibiting factors influencing the relationship between procedural and distributive justice. The paper contributes to linking the conceptual discourse of justice in planning to the analysis of actual local cases by focussing on a number of dimensions and categories.

Discursive pragmatics of justification in terrorist threat texts: Victim-blaming, denying, discrediting, legitimating, manipulating, and retaliation

This article explores the under-researched area of discursive tactics employed in terrorist threat texts that exploit moral values to constantly justify violence, fostering a ‘discourse of justification’, disaffiliation and conflict. Employing a discursive pragmatic analysis, it delves into the tactics of violent extremists associated with jihadism and far-right ideologies. Utilising the Appraisal framework and the ‘moral disaffiliation’ strategy, the study uncovers verbal practices shaping a dynamic of justification. Findings reveal threateners’ involvement in regulatory discursive functions – manipulation, deontic-retaliation, and boulomaic effect – and practices of ideologically positioning functions – discrediting, blaming, denying and (de)legitimating. The analysis highlights the construction of negative victim individuals and societies while praising the threatener/in-group, anchored predominantly in values of propriety, capacity, valuation and veracity, as the primary dynamic of threatener-victim disalignment. This study contributes insights into threatener profiling, motivations of violence and future research on threat-genre rhetorical structure analysis.

"What Kind of Court Is This?": Perceptions of International Justice Among Rohingya Refugees

ABSTRACT: In the context of mass atrocities, the legitimacy of institutions for international justice—such as the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice—is based on the assumption that they vindicate demands for accountability by the survivors of horrific human rights violations. Yet, notwithstanding advances in victim representation at these Hague-based courts, victim-centered justice remains elusive. This article contributes to centering the voices of survivors in their specific cultural contexts, against the backdrop of existing efforts that too often render invisible their perspectives. Through semi-structured interviews, conducted in late 2022, with 444 Rohingya survivors of genocide who have fled Myanmar to refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, we attempt to convey the priorities of these survivors situated within their cultural understanding of justice. We contextualize the empirical data gathered from the survey within Rohingyas' lived experiences of persecution in Myanmar, their cultural framings of communal justice, and their current reality of prolonged displacement in refugee camps in Bangladesh. The article concludes by describing the implications of this survey's findings on future engagement of the Rohingya in international justice processes, and a wider reflection on how grassroots perspectives can and should shape the global justice discourse.

Power & temporality in pursuing transformative planetary justice

ABSTRACT Planetary justice discourse has emerged as a new approach for earth system governance which centers justice concerns within a particular temporal epoch, the so-called ‘Anthropocene.’ Here, we examine the distinctive features of the planetary justice framework, focusing specifically on the importance of the temporal dimensions relevant for understanding injustices beyond humans and at the planetary scale. We use two examples – PFAS and insurance – to demonstrate how the multiscalar, beyond-human approach adopted by planetary justice scholars, coupled with the discourse’s embeddedness in existing earth system governance processes, could have meaningful influence in planetary decision-making processes. We argue that there is a need for (1) expanding the ‘pro-poor’ agenda of planetary justice research, and (2) cultivating space for inclusion of existing and alternative approaches to justice in pursuing a pluralized planetary justice. In closing, we suggest future areas of research and action for redressing power imbalances across space-time in the pursuit of planetary justice.

Haunting justice: queer bodies, ghosts, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

This article was named the winner of the 2022 Enloe Award. The committee commented: Using a queer hauntological approach to read queer bodies in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the seemingly innocuous language of judges, legal counsels, and witnesses, the author illuminates the ways in which queer lives are made absent in international law and in experiences of war, peace, and justice. By rendering queer lives as “ghosts,” the author shows how the “straight, binary, and cisgender subject,” be it victim or perpetrator, is maintained in international criminal justice. Going beyond critique by centering a queer archive created by queer people about their experiences of the war, the article stood out to the committee as an important contribution to international law and beyond. By rendering queer lives “intelligible and grievable and as lives that matter,” it continues Cynthia Enloe’s legacy of finding sex and gender where it has been hidden. Ultimately, the author does not call for the inclusion or assimilation of queer experiences into liberal international criminal justice discourses, which co-opt and empty radical politics. Successfully showing how “haunting” represents a radical call for “alternative worlds,” the article provides an original challenge to move beyond mere inclusion. The committee commends the author for their careful scholarship and deep theorization.

Contextualising the absence of standardised approaches to transitional justice in the Philippines

Abstract The professionalisation, institutionalisation and standardisation of transitional justice has often been critiqued for pushing more informal, vernacular or experimental approaches off the radar. While this concern is legitimate and needs to be addressed, this article explores the continued relevance of standardised approaches, and of a shared language of transitional justice more specifically. I develop this argument against the background of recent events in the Philippines where, in May 2022, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the former dictator, won the presidential elections. In this article I show that there has been a multiplicity of context-sensitive, vernacular and experimental transitional justice initiatives to deal with intersecting and multilayered legacies of violence, but that what has been missing is an overarching framework as expressed through the discourse of transitional justice, and the potential to forge collaborations and coalitions on the basis thereof. The case of the Philippines hints at the potential of a more ecological understanding of transitional justice in which justice actors involved in standardised and vernacular, formal and informal, state and non-state, top-down and bottom-up approaches recognise each other and certain shared objectives through the shared language and normativity of transitional justice.

Translating Pancasila in Global Justice Context: Does it matter?

Pancasila, the philosophical foundation of the Indonesian state, encapsulates the principles of justice, humanity, and social harmony. However, as the world becomes increasingly interconnected, questions arise regarding the relevance and translatability of Pancasila in the global context of justice. This paper explores the significance of translating Pancasila's principles into global justice frameworks, examining its implications and challenges. Drawing on philosophical, legal, and sociopolitical perspectives, this paper argues that while Pancasila offers valuable insights into justice, its translation into global contexts requires careful consideration of cultural, political, and ethical nuances. Through comparative analysis and case studies, this paper investigates the feasibility and desirability of integrating Pancasila into global justice discourses, shedding light on the potential contributions and limitations of cross-cultural ethical frameworks.

Дискурс исторической справедливости: этико-политические основания и концептуальные противоречия

The article examines the use of the “historical justice” category as a public justification for political actions. Despite its frequent use in public discourse, the scientific legitimacy of the concept remains questionable, as its formal definition encounters a range of challenges. Firstly, the status of the main subjects of justice – perpetrators and victims – remains uncertain, since the assessment of their activities in the historical perspective may change over time. Secondly, the so-called non-identity problem is essential, as it complicates establishing the continuity between the victims of historical injustice and the modern communities claiming to represent them. The active use of appeals to historical justice rooted in the doctrine of “moral remembrance”, which arose as a result of World War II and consists of three main principles: the duty to remember, the duty to face the past, and the duty to ensure justice for victims. As the composition and number of leading political actors changed, there was a sharp increase in memorial narratives, and the automatic extension of demands for historical justice to these narratives resulted in an increase in memorial conflicts. In modern public space, the discourse of historical justice has become a crucial tool of symbolic struggle, often replacing moral attitudes towards the past with political manipulation. In this regard, it seems necessary to distinguish between historical justice as a political tool and as a category of historical ethics that allows determining and assessment of the relationship between historical facts and modern narratives.