Module Directory

This module explores the nature and foundations of international obligations. It asks what we owe to people in other countries, and what they can demand of us as a matter of right.

Questions to be addressed include the following: Who owes what to the very poor? Are citizens of affluent countries complicit in the creation and maintenance of world poverty? Does justice demand the elimination of global inequality? What human rights do we have? When is international trade unfair? Do states have a right to close their borders to outsiders? Under what conditions (if any) is it permissible to wage war? What are the poor and oppressed permitted to do in order to alleviate their plight?

We will address these questions by considering the answers that they have received in important recent works of normative political philosophy.

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce you to, and to stimulate your interest in, the study of human rights and global justice from the perspective of normative political theory.


• To equip you with an understanding of the relevance of theoretical debates about global justice to public policy controversies that involve global justice.


• To encourage you to question your own beliefs about what a just world looks like and to enable you to begin to formulate a vision of such a world for yourself.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. To understand the nature of normative argumentation and its value to the study of politics.


2. To engage in clear verbal and written normative argumentation. You will acquire a greater confidence and ability to express what you believe is just and to express your scepticism about proposals about global justice.


3. To scrutinise arguments made by politicians and other prominent figures in the media about human rights and global justice.

The module will be delivered via:

• a weekly two-hour seminar.

In the first part of the seminar, the module supervisor will present a lecture. The second part of the seminar is devoted to class discussion. Student participation in the second half of the seminar is absolutely crucial. You are expected to do the required reading for each seminar, and to be prepared to engage in discussion on this material. If you and your fellow students are well prepared, then you are more likely to enjoy the class discussion, to benefit from it, and to succeed in the module.