Critical Social Inquiry 0243 - Global Justice

In this course we will focus on advanced topics in the global justice debate: war, human rights, and the demands of peace. We will begin with a survey of mainstream approaches to global justice, ranging from Kant's "Perpetual Peace," to Rawls's Law of Peoples, and various cosmopolitan approaches. We will then move to a discussion of the realities of war, colonialism, and human rights. Here, we will engage the geneva conventions and its additional protocols in relation to contemporary case studies and non-ideal philosophical approaches to issues of justice and war. The second half of the class will focus on contemporary issues in transitional justice, emphasizing the goals and practices of reconciliation, and clarifying what these activities imply for mainstream approaches to global politics.

Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research Students are expected to spend at least six to eight hours a week of preparation and work outside of class time.