The course introduces varying theories of justice, assessing their merits and limitations as applied to real-world, contemporary global challenges. As part of this, the course identifies how these issues are the product of historically embedded economic, political, social relations which continue to today. This includes a critical interrogation of forces such as as imperialism, colonialism, racism and capitalism, as well as by the affordance of specific rights and citizenship to some, but not all. Considerations of what might be needed to redressing harms of the past and to prevent their reoccurrence in the future is also explored. Cross-cultural perspectives on how inequality is conceptualised, understood and redressed within both cosmopolitanism vs. nationalist based narratives will also be identified and discussed. As part of this, you will work to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of various movements, approaches, policies and structures towards redressing some of these injustices, considering the end goal of improving the overall well-being of peoples and planet. A key element of this exploration is to identify alternative ways of organising societies that are better attuned to promoting belonging, participation and well-being of all.
Lectures, course readings and assessment activities are designed to provide students a sense of agency and a space to engage with existing social movements, networks and actions. Ultimately the aim is to prepare students to be critically engaged and active citizens in a range of professions which have a global reach/outlook and/or to understand the transnational connections of the work they are advancing. The aim is to ensure that students can think on a global scale in relation to contemporary challenges, but also ensure they have skills, knowledge and conceptual understanding to actively address them.