GV543-6-AU-CO:
Human Rights and Global Justice
2024/25
Government
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 03 October 2024
Friday 13 December 2024
15
25 April 2024
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
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.
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.
To understand the nature of normative argumentation and its value to the study of politics.
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.
To scrutinise arguments made by politicians and other prominent figures in the media about human rights and global justice.
No additional information available.
The module is organized around 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.
- Nussbaum, Martha Craven. (2011) Creating capabilities: the human development approach, Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
- Caney, Simon. (2010) 'Climate change and the duties of the advantaged', in Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy. vol. 13 (1) , pp.203-228
- Tan, Kok-Chor. (2004) Justice without borders: cosmopolitanism, nationalism, and patriotism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Peter Singer. (1972) 'Famine, Affluence, and Morality', in Philosophy & Public Affairs: Wiley. vol. 1, pp.229-243
- Frowe, Helen. (2016) The ethics of war and peace: an introduction, London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.
- Pogge, Thomas. (2004) '"Assisting" the Global Poor', in The ethics of assistance: morality and the distant needy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press., pp.260-288
- James, Aaron. (2013) Fairness in practice: a social contract for a global economy, New York: Oxford University Press.
- (2014) Contemporary debates in applied ethics, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. vol. Contemporary debates in philosophy
- Caney, Simon. (2009) 'Cosmopolitanism and Justice', in Contemporary debates in political philosophy, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. vol. Contemporary debates in philosophy
- Miller, David. (1995) On nationality, New York: Clarendon Press.
- McMahan, Jeff. (2007) '“Just War” in A companion to contemporary political philosophy', in A companion to contemporary political philosophy, Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Risse, M. (2007) 'Fairness in trade I: obligations from trading and the Pauper-Labor Argument', in Politics, Philosophy & Economics. vol. 6 (3) , pp.355-377
- Barry, Brian; Goodin, Robert E. (1992) Free movement: ethical issues in the transnational migration of people and of money, London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
- Wellman, Carl. (2011) The moral dimensions of human rights, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Singer, Peter. (2016) One world now: the ethics of globalization, New Haven: Yale University Press.
- Charles R. Beitz. (2001) 'Does global inequality matter?', in Metaphilosophy: Wiley. vol. 32, pp.95-112
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course. The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students. Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay |
|
65% |
| Written Exam |
Online Quiz |
|
35% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr James Christensen, email: james.christensen@essex.ac.uk.
Dr James Christensen
Please contact govquery@essex.ac.uk
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dr Katharine Dommett
The University of Sheffield
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 20 hours, 20 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s).
Government
* Please note: due to differing publication schedules, items marked with an asterisk (*) base their information upon the previous academic year.
Disclaimer: The University makes every effort to ensure that this information on its Module Directory is accurate and up-to-date. Exceptionally it can
be necessary to make changes, for example to programmes, modules, facilities or fees. Examples of such reasons might include a change of law or regulatory requirements,
industrial action, lack of demand, departure of key personnel, change in government policy, or withdrawal/reduction of funding. Changes to modules may for example consist
of variations to the content and method of delivery or assessment of modules and other services, to discontinue modules and other services and to merge or combine modules.
The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.
The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.