Responsibility and Global Justice

Abstract

The two traditional ways of thinking about justice at the global level either limit the applicability of justice to states - the only distributions that can be just or unjust, strictly speaking, are within the state - or else extend it to all human beings. The view I defend in On Global Justice (Risse [Risse, M., 2012]) rejects both of these approaches. Instead, my view, and thus my attempt at meeting the aforementioned challenge, acknowledges the existence of multiple grounds of justice. My purpose here is to explain what my view has to say about responsibility. First of all, I explain what my view implies about the responsibilities of the state for the realization of justice. Then I explain that in addition to obligations of justice, my view also gives rise to obligations of account‐giving. I end by sketching what all this implies for institutional reform at the global level.