Global Justice and the Distribution of Natural Resources

Abstract

What should a political theorist say about the justice of the global distribution of natural resources? One issue is whether principles of distributive justice should be applied globally, and this has been debated between nationalists and cosmopolitans. A second, though, is how the category of ‘natural resources’ should be conceived in relation to other distributable goods. This has not adequately been addressed even by theorists of global justice who expressly focus on natural resources. In particular, neither Charles Beitz’s argument for a natural resources redistribution principle nor David Miller’s argument against works with a satisfactory account of how the physical distribution of resources relates to the distribution of their economic value. A more satisfactory account can be developed from the perspective of ecological economics as inspired by Nicholas Georgescu‐Roegen. From this perspective, global inequalities in the command of natural resources can be viewed with the clarity that a normative theory of their justice requires. If natural resources are re‐conceptualised in terms of ‘ecological space’, Beitz’s argument can be recast and vindicated. The re‐conceptualisation is necessary to overcome the problems with the original version, as is shown by reference to the existing alternative formulations of Hillel Steiner and Thomas Pogge.

On the Nature of Our Debt to the Global Poor

“…21 These are points I too have highlighted in a previous discussion. 22 I fully accept with Risse that materials become resources (hence something of value) through being developed, in activities that require social contexts, contexts in which not all human beings participate equally. However, I think he is rather too swift in concluding that we cannot think of the claims to them as being egalitarian.…”

Self-Determination and Resource Rights: In Defence of Territorial Jurisdiction Over Natural Resources

“…Cara Nine (2012, p. 117) puts forth the political justice 5 Some of the normative controversy about resource rights connects to disagreement about their definition-in particular to whether the subjective value for humans is intrinsic to the very definition of an object as a resource, see, e.g., Kolers (2012), Hayward (2006). 6 For discussion of models and conceptions of resource rights see e.g., Nine (2012, Ch.…”

Environmental Space as a Basis for Legitimating Global Governance of Environmental Limits

“…72. Jonathan Freedland, "The Problem of the Rich," Guardian Weekly, December 2-8 2005, 24;Hayward 2006;Held and Kaya, 2007;Hurrell and Woods 1999;Sachs and Santarius 2007;and World Bank 2003. 73.…”