Global poverty: Development ethics meets global justice

Abstract

Any plausible conception of what may constitute fair globalization needs to address the processes that produce and reproduce global poverty. In this essay I argue that the ethical aspects of global poverty lead to a redefining of both development and globalization. In addition, as the ‘global’ impinges increasingly on every field of knowledge (and praxis) so too development, philosophy, and ethics and the relations among these fields of knowledge are forced to redefine their scope and subject matter. This, in turn, has consequences for the ways in which globalization is treated and, in particular, for the emergent field of globalization studies. My main point is that the ethical aspects of globalization are interrelated with an ethical perspective on knowledge and policy for poverty reduction, and moral understandings of poverty; perspectives—among others—investigated by the fields of development ethics and global justice. In addition, I suggest that poverty needs to be treated globally and not as a social fact that occurs only in developing countries. This entails a re-engagement with literature and theories within the field of development studies and with poverty research. And as poverty research is dominated by the knowledge and policies of global institutions, this includes critical engagement with such agents' knowledge production. Cross-fertilization between these fields may lead to stronger and constructive theoretical formulations for alternative globalizations, for a better understanding of the paths towards fairer development aid policies and institutions more responsive to global poverty.

Notes

1 I do not address here the question of climate change, yet the arguments put forward in this essay may serve to promote a rethink of climate change as well.

2 See the forum section ‘Towards Fair Globalization?’ in Globalizations, 2(2), pp. 241–282.

3 See the essay by Jonathan Glennie in this volume on ‘The Myth of Charity’.

4 See for example the Post Autistic Economic Review at http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue36/contents36.htm.

5 The notion of methodological territorialism was advanced by Erik Wolf in his study about the spatial assumptions proper to the social sciences, Europe and the People without History (1982). For an extended analysis see Nilsen (2005).

6 Many of the ideas currently defended by proponents of alternative conceptions of development, such as Amartya Sen, have been explored by Goulet, who also draws on Lebret's conception of human development. Goulet's work, however, is much more interdisciplinary, and insists on the role that moral awareness plays in the ways in which we perceive progress, the promises of technology and science, and the rethinking of social and political activism.

7 Routledge is in the process of publishing a set of essays by Denis Goulet collecting the evolution of his work, Development Ethics at work: Explorations—1960–2002.

8 It is beyond the scope of this essay to offer a full revision of all these approaches. For an updated bibliography of development ethics see Crocker (forthcoming). For a full bibliography of Sen and Nussbaum's work as well as the emerging body of writings on the capabilities approach see the Human Development and Capability Association website http://www.fas.harvard.edu/∼freedoms/.

9 For Pogge' extensive body of writings see http://www.columbia.edu/∼tp6/index.html.

10 Pogge has also edited an important volume for UNESCO debating the idea that poverty may best be seen as a violation of human rights. These essays were the result of a series of workshops organized by UNESCO's section for the social and the human sciences under the leadership of Pierre Sane, former Director General of Amnesty International (AI). The publication of the book, however, has been delayed for several years. Most of the texts of this volume are available at UNESCO website at: http://portal.unesco.org/shs/fr/ev.php-URL_ID = 4318&URL_DO = DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION = -277.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Asunción Lera St. Clair

Asunción Lera St. Clair, philosopher and sociologist, is Associate Professor at the Section for Gender and Human Development, Department of Education and Health Promotion, University of Bergen, and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment (Sum), University Of Oslo. St. Clair is also Secretary of the International Development Ethics Association (IDEA) and Board member of The Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Higher Education (NUFU). Recent publications include a chapter (with Desmond McNeill) in The World Bank and Governance: A Decade of Reform and Reaction (Routledge, 2006) and articles in Journal of Global Governance and Journal of Global Social Policy.