Neoliberalism Versus Distributional Autonomy: The Skipped Step in Rawls's The Law of Peoples

Publication Title

Canadian Journal of Philosophy

Authors

William A. Edmundson, Georgia State University College of LawFollow
Matthew R. Schrepfer, Brown University

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

Debates about global distributive justice focus on the gulf between the wealthy North and the impoverished South, rather than on issues arising between liberal democracies. A review of John Rawls’s approach to international justice discloses a step Rawls skipped in his extension of his original-position procedure. The skipped step is where a need for the distributional autonomy of sovereign liberal states reveals itself. Neoliberalism denies the possibility and the desirability of distributional autonomy. A complete Rawlsian account of global justice shows the necessity and possibility of a charter between liberal states, assuring each a proper minimum degree of distributional autonomy

Recommended Citation

William A. Edmundson, Neoliberalism Versus Distributional Autonomy: The Skipped Step in Rawls's The Law of Peoples, 49 Canadian J. Phil. 169 (2019).

Institutional Repository Citation

William A. Edmundson & Matthew R. Schrepfer, Neoliberalism Versus Distributional Autonomy: The Skipped Step in Rawls's The Law of Peoples, Faculty Publications By Year 2749 (2019)
https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/faculty_pub/2749

DOI

10.1080/00455091.2018.1523038

Volume

49

Issue

2

First Page

169

Last Page

181