Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
1-2006
Abstract
The political pursuit of global justice is not a worthy goal, and our aims in establishing international legal and political institutions should be more modest. The pursuit of justice in the international order is dangerous to the extent that it requires the establishment of powerful supranational agencies, or legitimizes greater and more frequent exercise of political, economic, and military power by strong states or coalitions. The primary concern in the establishment and design of all legal and political institutions should be not to secure justice but to limit power. It is a mistake to think that a distinction can be drawn between power created to do good and power created to do evil, or that we are capable of devising institutions that can honor the distinction.
Discipline
Political Theory
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Social Philosophy and Policy
Volume
23
Issue
1
First Page
1
Last Page
28
ISSN
0265-0525
Identifier
10.1017/S0265052506060018
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Citation
KUKATHAS, Chandran.(2006). The mirage of global justice. Social Philosophy and Policy, 23(1), 1-28.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2929
Copyright Owner and License
Publisher
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0265052506060018