• DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511614743.014
• Corpus ID: 154203431

Beyond the Social Contract: Capabilities and Global Justice

@article{Nussbaum2004BeyondTS,
  title={Beyond the Social Contract: Capabilities and Global Justice},
  author={Martha Craven Nussbaum},
  journal={Oxford Development Studies},
  year={2004},
  volume={32},
  pages={3}
}

• M. Nussbaum
• Published 2004
• Political Science
• Oxford Development Studies

The dominant theory of justice in the western tradition of political philosophy is the social contract theory, which sees principles of justice as the outcome of a contract people make, for mutual advantage, to leave the state of nature and govern themselves by law. Such theories have recently been influential in thinking about global justice. I examine that tradition, focusing on Rawls, its greatest modern exponent; I shall find it wanting. Despite their great strengths in thinking about justice, contractarian theories have some structural defects that make them yield very imperfect results when we apply them to the world stage. More promising results are given by a version of the capabilities approach, which suggests a set of basic human entitlements, similar to human rights, as a minimum of what justice requires for all. But among the traits characteristic of the human being is an impelling desire for fellowship, that is for common life, not of just any kind, but a peaceful life, and organized according to the measure of his intelligence, with those who are of his kind ... Stated as a universal truth, therefore, the assertion that every animal is impelled by nature to seek only its own good cannot be conceded. (Grotius, On the Law of War and Peace) Global inequalities in income increased in the 20th century by orders of magnitude out of proportion to anything experienced before. The distance between the incomes of the richest and poorest country was about 3 to 1 in 1820, 35 to 1 in 1950, 44 to 1 in 1973 and 72 to 1 in 1992. (Human Development Report 2000, United Nations Development Programme) 1. A World of Inequalities A child born in Sweden today has a life expectancy at birth of 79.7 years. A child born in Sierra Leone has a life expectancy at birth of 38.9 years.1 In the USA, GDP per capita is US$34 142; in Sierra Leone, GDP per capita is US$490. Adult literacy rates in the top 20 nations are around 99%; in Sierra Leone, the literacy rate is 36%. In 26 nations, the adult literacy rate is under 50%. The world contains inequalities that are morally alarming, and the gap between richer and poorer nations is widening. The chance of being born in one nation rather than another pervasively determines the life chances of every child who is born. Any *Martha C. Nussbaum, University of Chicago Law School, 1111 E 60th Street, Chicago, IK, 60637, USA. ISSN 1360-0818 print/ISSN 1469-9966 online/04/010003-16  2004 International Development Centre, Oxford DOI: 10.1080/1360081042000184093