Chris Armstrong on Global Equality and Special Claims to Resources

In ‘Justice and Natural Resources,’ Chris Armstrong offers a rich and sophisticated egalitarian theory of resource justice, according to which the benefits and burdens flowing from natural (and non-natural) resources are ideally distributed with a view to equalize people’s access to wellbeing, unless there are compelling reasons that justify departures from that egalitarian default. Armstrong discusses two such reasons: special claims from ‘improvement’ and ‘attachment.’ In this paper, I critically assess the account he gives of these potential constraints on global equality. I argue that his recognition of them has implications that Armstrong does not anticipate, and which challenge some important theses in his book. First, special claims from improvement will justify larger departures from the egalitarian default than Armstrong believes. Second, a consistent application of Armstrong’s life plan-foundation for special claims from attachment implies that nation-states may move closer to justify ‘permanent sovereignty’ over the resources within their territories than what his analysis suggests.

Armstrong's Resource-Egalitarianism Theory and Attachment

The paper analyses the interrelationship between Armstrong’s egalitarian theory and his treatment of the ‘attachment theory’ of resources, which is the dominant rival theory of resources that his theory is pitched against. On Armstrong’s theory, egalitarianism operates as a default position, from which special claims would need to be justified, but he also claims to be able to incorporate 'attachment' into his theory. The general question explored in the paper is the extent to which ‘attachment’ claims can be ‘married’ to an egalitarian theory. The more specific argument is that a properly constrained attachment theory is more plausible than Armstrong’s egalitarian theory. It also criticizes attachment and improvement accounts as justifying permanent sovereignty over resources. The paper argues that neither of those arguments aim to justify the international doctrine of permanent sovereignty.

Greening Global Egalitarianism?

In Justice and Natural Resources: An Egalitarian Theory (2017), Chris Armstrong proposes a version of global egalitarianism that – contra the default renderings of this approach – takes individual attachment to specific resources into account. By doing this, his theory has the potential for greening global egalitarianism both in terms of procedure and scope. In terms of procedure, its broad account of attachment and its focus on individuals rather than groups connects with participatory governance and management and, ultimately, participatory democracy – an essential ingredient in the toolkit of green politics and policy-making. In terms of scope, because it does not commit itself to any particular moral framework, Armstrong’s theory leaves the door open for non-human animals to become subjects of justice, thus extending the realm of the latter beyond its traditionally anthropocentric borders. I conclude that these greenings are promising, but not trouble-free.

Dissimilarities Between Deweyan Pragmatism and Confucianism

Over the past decade, numerous Deweyan philosophers have been arguing that Deweyan Pragmatism and Confucianism have significantly similar philosophical underpinnings and thus a Deweynised Confucian society is highly plausible. This article examines the social and historical backdrops against which Deweyan and Confucian thoughts were developed. It then explores the starkly contrasting and oftconflicting views of Dewey and Confucius on the purpose of education, the curriculum in schools, and the respective roles of teachers and students, morality, individuality, sociality as well as politics. The conclusion of this paper is that Deweyan Pragmatism is a context-specific, anti-dualist, and egalitarian theory whereas Confucianism is a transcendental virtue-oriented, universalist, and elitist philosophy. Therefore, any effort to promote the co-optation of Confucianism in Deweyan applications within Confucian civilisations, no matter how well intentioned, blocks the path to truth.

INFLUENCE OF FOOD ADEQUACY ON ENROLMENT IN ECE CENTRES IN TURKANA CENTRAL SUB COUNTY, TURKANA COUNTY, KENYA

Purpose: This study sought to establish the influence of SFP on children enrolment in early childhood education centers in Turkana Central Sub-County, Kenya. Specific objective was to establish the influence of food adequacy on enrolment in ECE centres in Turkana Central Sub County, Turkana County, Kenya. Methodology: The study was based on Maslow hierarchy of needs, the program theory and liberal egalitarian theory. The study used a mixed research method. The study adopted the cross-sectional research design. The target population was 250 schools, 78 teachers and head teachers and 5,000 parents in pre-schools in Turkana Central Sub County. The study used purposive sampling to select respondents. The sample size of the study was 150 schools, 60 teachers and head teachers and 357 parents. Primary data was gathered by use of questionnaires and interviews guides. Secondary data consisted of report forms of pre-schoolers. Quantitative information was analyzed using descriptive statistics which was computed using SPSS version 21. Qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. Multiple regressions were done to analyze the influence of SFPs on children enrolment in ECDE centres in Turkana Central Sub County. Findings: The study found that food adequacy significantly and positively relate with children enrolment in ECE centres in Turkana Central Sub County, Turkana County, Kenya. Food adequacy had statistically significant effect of school enrolment in ECD (β = 0.415, P = 0.005). It implies that food adequacy significantly and positively relate with children enrolment in ECE centres in Turkana Central Sub County, Turkana County, Kenya. This implies that increasing food adequacy will lead to increase in children enrolment in ECE centres in Turkana Central Sub County, Turkana County, Kenya. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study therefore recommends the government to increase food supply to ensure adequacy. There is need to continue supply of balanced diet to children because it improves their growth and learning. Some of the children are from very poor families and during school holidays they suffer because of lack of food; the study therefore recommends orphans, poor and disabled to be fed even during holidays.

Care and affective relations: Social justice and sociology

This article examines the ways in which the care-indifferent and gendered character of much political egalitarian theory has contributed to a disregard for the care-relational dimensions of social injustice within the social sciences. It demonstrates how the lack of in-depth engagement with affective relations of love, care and solidarity has contributed to an underestimation of their pivotal role in generating injustices in the production of people in their humanity. While humans are political, economic and cultural beings, they are also what Tronto has termed homines curans. Yet, care, in its multiple manifestations, is treated as a kind of ‘cultural residual’, an area of human life that the dominant culture neglects, represses and cannot even recognize for its political salience. If sociology takes the issue of relational justice as seriously as it takes issues of redistribution, recognition and political representation, this would provide an intellectual avenue for advancing scholarship that recognizes that much of life is lived, and injustices are generated, outside the market, formal politics and public culture. A new sociology of affective care relations could enhance a normatively-led sociology of inequality, that is distinguishable from, but intersecting with, a sociology of inequality based on class (redistribution), status (recognition) and power (representation). It would also help change public discourse about politics by making affective in/justices visible intellectually and politically, and in so doing, identifying ways in which they could be a site of resistance to capitalist values and processes.

O CONTRATO SOCIAL BRASILEIRO VERSUS AS TEORIAS NEOCONTRATUALISTAS MODERNAS

O presente trabalho busca analisar comparativamente os principais aspectos da Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil, de 1988, com as teorias neocontratualistas igualitária, libertária e marxista analítica objetivando averiguar se a Carta Magna, compreendida como pacto social brasileiro, se aproxima ou contempla alguma das teorias sociais modernas. Sendo uma pesquisa descritivo-explicativa, com abordagem qualitativa e de vertente jurídico-dogmática, adotou-se o método de análise comparativo. Utiliza-se a teoria igualitária de John Rawls, expondo os conceitos de liberalismo igualitário e Constituição Justa; a teoria libertária nozickiana, compreendendo as dimensões do Estado Mínimo; e a teoria marxista analítica, com os conceitos empíricos-marxistas e a justiça proletária. Os resultados aparecem de maneira discrepante sendo a teoria igualitária a que mais se aproxima, comparativamente, da Constituição da República, ao passo que as demais diferem de questões essenciais do documento jurídico-político brasileiro. Conclui-se que a Constituição Federal possui caráter eclético e, contemplando diversas disposições das teorias modernas neocontratualistas, aproxima-se mais da teoria igualitária. BRAZILIAN ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION VERSUS MODERN NEOCONTRACTUALISM THEORIES ABSTRACT The present paper seeks to comparatively review the main aspects of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, from 1988 to egalitarian neo-contractualism, libertarian and analytical Marxism theories, it aims at determining if the Magna Carta, construed as a Brazilian social contract, approaches or deliberates any modern social theory. It is descriptive-explanatory research, with qualitative, and legal-dogmatic approaches, the comparative analysis method was adopted. The paper draws on John Rawls's egalitarian theory, describing the concepts of egalitarian liberalism and Just Constitution; Nozick libertarian justice theory including the dimensions of Minima State; and analytical Marxist theory, within empirical Marxist concepts, and proletarian justice. The results were disparate, being the egalitarian theory the closest one when comparing it to the Constitution of the Republic, whereas the other theories differ from the key issues of Brazilian legal political document. It was concluded that the Federative Constitution has eclectic purposes, covering several neocontractualist modern theories clauses, mostly approaching the egalitarian theory. keywords: Egalitarianism. Libertarianism. Analytical Marxism. Equity.

Rawls and Luck Egalitarianism

In A Theory of Justice, Rawls famously noted that many (dis)advantages reflect the outcomes of the social and the natural lottery. In these remarks, inter alia, some have seen the early appearance in Rawls’s work of what was later developed into a full-blown luck egalitarian theory of justice. Luck egalitarianism says that it is unjust if some are worse off than others through no choice or fault of their own. This principle differs from Rawls’s theory of justice. This had led some political philosophers to criticize Rawls for not thinking through the implications of his luck egalitarian commitments. This chapter (1) presents conflicting interpretations of the role considerations about luck play in Rawls; (2) assesses the exegetical support on offer for these interpretations; and, finally, (3) discusses what role considerations about luck should play in a theory of justice in the light of recent relational egalitarian theories.

Introduction

Any egalitarian theory of justice must have some measure by which one can determine whether a system of social cooperation is fair or not. In particular, one must have some metric by which to tell if a system is working to the advantage or disadvantage of a citizen, or as John Rawls puts it, we need “an idea of each participant’s rational advantage, or good.”...

Inequality of Opportunities: The Role of the Spatial Factor

The concept of equal opportunities was shaped on the back of western social philosophy at the end of the XX century as a result of the development of egalitarian theory of social justice. According to it, the determinants of individual achievements should be divided into two categories: ‘circumstances’, which individual has no control on, and ‘efforts’, which individuals should be responsible for. Our research deals with measuring opportunity inequality in the Russian Federation and its regions. The regions of the Russian Federation are well known to be very heterogeneous, consequently, the variation of their social and economic indicators is significant. As a result, the level of opportunity inequality may fluctuate significantly among the regions. Our research is designed to test the hypothesis. The analysis is based on the data from the survey ‘Survey of Income and Participation in Social Programs’ conducted by the Federal state statistics service of the Russian Federation. The estimation technique is parametric and based on the ex-ante definition of equality of opportunity. The mean logarithmic deviation is used as inequality index. According to our calculations, the contribution of opportunity inequality to the labor income inequality in Russia is approximately 30%. Spatial factors (region of residence and type of settlement) are responsible for nearly 70% of opportunity inequality. Absolute level of opportunity inequality varies widely among regions – from 0,0117 to 0,0547 in 2017. The contribution of opportunity inequality to inequality of labor income ranges from 7,24 to 27,35% in 2017 across regions. The growth of opportunity inequality is shown to be correlated with the decrease of the economic development rate and the increase of labor income inequality