Table Of ContentGlobal Justice in
a Democratic World
This book connects with the current debate on one of the most crucial philo-
sophical ideas—the idea of social justice presented in the wider context of
contemporary liberalism. Offering a reflection on the universality of the idea
of social justice, the book argues that it is both required and feasible in mod-
ern democratic societies. The author provides a comparative analysis of the
recent liberal theories of justice and argues that the novelty of the Sen’s and
Nussbaum’s approaches, in comparison with Rawls’ theory, is that they apply
the notion of human capabilities which enable them to discuss the problem
of social justice on a global scale, addressing issues which are neglected or
insufficiently developed, such as global inequalities and other forms of exclu-
sion. All these liberal theories significantly enrich the set of fundamental
principles of political morality that concerns the sphere of political action.
The author concludes that the introduction of the idea of social justice into
the contemporary liberal doctrine and political practice is essential for the
preservation of the world’s liberal democracies.
Justyna Miklaszewska is a Professor of Philosophy and the Head of the
Department of the History of Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy,
Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her other academic positions included
Visiting Research Scholar at Oxford University and Columbia University,
Visiting Fellow at the University of Wales, the University of Aberdeen and
the London School of Economics. Her main research interests are contempo-
rary liberal political philosophy and the history of modern philosophy. She
examines the relationships between philosophical theories and the political,
economic and social problems of contemporary democratic societies. In her
recent works, she has focused her attention particularly on the problem of
social justice on a global scale and employs the capability approach as the
principal criterion in the evaluation of lives and societies. She is an author
of several monographs in Polish and many papers in both Polish and English
related to libertarianism, economic philosophy, public choice theory and
democratic theory.
Justyna Miklaszewska is a Professor of Philosophy and the Head of the
Department of the History of Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, Jagi-
ellonian University in Krakow. Her main research interests are contemporary
liberal political philosophy and the history of modern philosophy. She is an
author of several monographs in Polish, and many papers in both Polish and
English related to libertarianism, economic philosophy, public choice theory
and democratic theory.
Global Justice in a
Democratic World
Contemporary Liberal Theories
Justyna Miklaszewska
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Published by Rowman & Littlefield
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowman.com
6 Tinworth Street, London SE11 5AL, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2021 by Justyna Miklaszewska
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021931238
ISBN 978-1-5381-5097-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-5381-5098-6 (electronic)
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992.
Publication in open access of the English version of the monograph by
Justyna Miklaszewska “Global Justice in a Democratic World” is financed
from the funds of the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education under
the contract No. 626/P-DUN/2019, in order to internationalize and dissemi-
nate research results.
Translated by Aeddan Shaw and Tim Churcher
Contents
Foreword: Liberalism, Politics, and Morality ix
Acknowledgments xv
PART I: THE RAWLSIAN LEGACY 1
1 Liberal Justice 3
2 Ethics and Political Pragmatism 11
PART II: IN THE CIRCLE OF THE IDEA OF JUSTICE 21
3 The Idea of Social Justice: From Utopia to Political Practice 23
4 Rationality and Individual Freedom in the Concepts of John
Rawls and Amartya Sen 33
5 The Idea of Justice and the Problem of Aid: Amartya Sen and
Muhammad Yunus 45
6 The Theory of Social Justice: Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum 59
7 The Capability Approach 73
8 Human Dignity, Animal Rights, and the Problem of Exclusion
in the Philosophy of Martha Nussbaum 85
PART III: FREEDOM, JUSTICE, AND
THE LIBERAL STATE 101
9 Subjectivity, Freedom, and Human Action 103
10 The Liberal Conception of Man 115
vii
viii Contents
11 The Limits of Individual Freedom in a Democratic State 127
12 The Libertarian Theory of the State 143
13 The Social Contract as the Justification for Policy in the
Theory of Public Choice 153
14 The Axiology of Public Choice 165
PART IV: GLOBAL JUSTICE IN A DEMOCRATIC WORLD 173
15 Multiculturalism as a Problem of Contemporary Democracy 175
16 Liberalism and Democracy in the Age of Globalization 187
17 Cosmopolitanism and Global Justice 197
18 Whose Justice? Whither Liberalism? 211
Notes 215
Bibliography 239
Index 255
About the Author 259
Foreword: Liberalism, Politics,
and Morality
The political philosophy of liberalism originated in the Enlightenment, with
its basis being shaped by the most eminent philosophers and economists of
the era, but its implementation came about in the nineteenth century, mainly
in the economies of the most developed Western countries—France and Britain.
Then, liberalism took the form of an ideology that emphasized the inseparable
nature of the relationship between political and economic liberty, with its
ideal form being that of the free-market economy. Even though philosophical
concepts also emerged that defined methods for securing individual freedom
in only the political sphere without focusing on economic matters, both of
these varieties of liberal political philosophy firmly separated ethical values
from politics and economics. The negative impact that the free market and
capitalist economy had on human life led to fierce criticism from the social-
ists, social democrats, and Christian thinkers of the century. These accusa-
tions not only concerned the application of classical liberal ideas in the
economy of many European countries and the problem of labor exploitation
but were also of a more general nature. They largely centered on the fact that
liberalism was a political theory based on the concept of homo economicus
and thus overlooked crucial ethical values and feelings such as solidarity,
compassion and dedication to others, and patriotism.
After the relative domination of socialist and social democratic ideas in
intellectual discourse and political practice of several countries in the first
half of the twentieth century, these ideas were implemented on a larger scale
in the countries of the Communist Bloc in the second half of the century. The
West also saw liberalism in a modified form, as a modern theory of a free-
market economy in a democratic state, one that once again began to influ-
ence political life. It still exists in this form in most countries of the world
and, after the collapse of communist systems, in Central and Eastern Europe
ix
