SYLLABUS

Justice in Politics and International Relations - JPB595

Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague

Instructor: Dr Janusz Salamon

ETCS: 6 credits
Prerequisites: None

PLACE: Nove Butovice campus, classroom 314 [Under the COVID conditions the lectures will also be streamed via ZOOM and recorded.]

TIME: TUESDAY, 12:30-13:50

CONTACTS:

Office hours: Tuesday, 11.00-12.30 at my office at Nove Butovice and online (and at other times after appointment)
Email: janusz.salamon at univ-oxford.com

COURSE OBJECTIVES.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the theories of justice in society (social justice) and in international relations (global justice). While the necessary historical and philosophical background of the age-long struggle for social justice will be taken into account, the main focus of the course will be the contemporary debates about justice in domestic and international politics. Since “theories of justice” constitute the central part of the contemporary political theory, the ideas of some of the most influential political theorists of the 20^th century will be discussed in the course of the semester, and the class readings will include fragments of some of the most important works of political philosophy of our times. Discussing various theories of justice, their relevance to the current political practice will always be considered (for example, by identifying how these theories of justice inform programs of various political parties and movements that are important part of the political scene in Europe and elsewhere.

COURSE CONTENTS:

Class 1. The plurality of the principles of justice

Class 2. Justice as virtue and justice as reciprocity (Plato and Aristotle)

Class 3. Justice as respect for right (Stoics, Locke and Kant)

Class 4. Justice as utility (Utilitarians)

Class 5. Justice as fairness (John Rawls)

Class 6. Justice as entitlement (Robert Nozick)

Class 7. The Theory of complex equality and the 'spheres of justice' (Michael Walzer)

Class 8. Communitarians on domestic and global justice (Alistair MacIntyre & Michael Sandel)

Class 9. Capabilities and Global Justice (Martha Nussbaum)

Class 10. John Rawls and his 'Law of Peoples'

Class 11. Globalizing Rawls or Global Distributive Justice (Thomas Pogge)

Class 12. Utilitarianism on Global Justice (Peter Singer)

COURSE READINGS.

All readings will be available in electronic format available for download from the course website (in the SIS).

Principal readings will be drawn from the following books:

Robert C. Solomon, Mark C. Murphy (eds), What Is Justice? Classic and Contemporary Readings. 2^nd Edition, OUP, 2000.

Alan Ryan (ed.), Justice, Oxford Readings in Politics and Government, OUP, 1993.

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice

Peter Dews (ed.), Habermas: A Critical Reader

Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice

Michael Sandel, Justice: What is the Right Thing to Do

Martha Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice

T. Pogge, K. Horton (eds), Global Ethics: Seminal Essays, Paragon, 2008

T. Pogge, D. Moellendorf (eds), Global Justice: Seminal Essays, Paragon House, 2008

M.R. Amstutz, International Ethics: Concepts, Theories, and Cases in Global Politics, Rowman and Littlefield, 2008

P. Hayden (ed.),Ethics and International Relations, Ashgate, 2009

R. Shapcott, International Ethics. A Critical Introduction, Polity, 2010

G. Graham, Ethics and International Relations, Blackwell,1997

T. Brooks (ed.), The Global Justice Reader, Blackwell, 2008

N. Dower, World Ethics, Edinburgh University Press, 1998

P. Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization, Yale University Press, 2002

K. Hutchings, Global Ethics: An Introduction, Polity, 2010.

COURSE GRADING:

Final Essay 50%

Final Exam 50%

Total 100%

EXAM & FINAL ESSAY INSTRUCTION

Since due to COVID we are not able to hold an in-class written examination FOR ALL participants, we must settle for a combination of ‘final essay’ and ‘final exam’ in an oral form conducted online. Consequently, - since this course is attended by dozens of students – we have to spread the examination throughout the entire exam period, from early January till mid-February. For this reason, I will enter in the SIS only one exam date for this course, since any exam dates I would enter would in fact ‘symbolic’. Thus the actual exam date is up to you to choose and communicate it to me via email. I should be able to adapt to your chosen date, but I will propose the hour, since – for legal reasons – we have to have at least 2 students present during the online oral exam (we are not allowed to record the exam), therefore I will have to also play the role of a matchmaker. Consequently, if only one of you will ask to be examined on a given day, the exam will not be possible, unless we will find a second student to join us. Thus it would be helpful (although it is not required of you) if you would agree between yourself to ask as a pair to be examined on a given day. Should you have any questions regarding the registration for the exam in the SIS or regarding the manner in which the exam will be conducted, please, let me know via email.

The FINAL ESSAY will be due "at least 48 hours before the oral exam" since I need to familiarize myself with it in order to be able to ask you during the final oral exam some questions related to your essay, thus reassuring myself that the essay is indeed your brainchild. The detailed essay instruction will be presented in class.

GRADING SCALE:

A = 91-100 % – excellent
B = 81-90 % – very good
C = 71-80 % – good
D = 61-70 % – satisfactory
E = 51-60 % – minimal pass
F = 0-50 % – fail