Justice in Politics and International Relations - JPB595

• Title: Justice in Politics and International Relations
• Guaranteed by: Department of Political Science (23-KP)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2023 to 2023
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 6
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 90 / unknown (100)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: Janusz Salamon, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Janusz Salamon, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students
• Incompatibility : JPM769
• Is incompatible with: JPM769

Annotation

Last update: PhDr. Petr Bednařík, Ph.D. (23.11.2021)

COURSE OBJECTIVES.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the theories of justice in society (social justice) and in international relations (global justice). While the necessary historical and philosophical background of the age-long struggle for social justice will be taken into account, the main focus of the course will be the contemporary debates about justice in domestic and international politics. Since “theories of justice” constitute the central part of the contemporary political theory, the ideas of some of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century will be discussed in the course of the semester, and the class readings will include fragments of some of the most important works of political philosophy of our times. Discussing various theories of justice, their relevance to the current political practice will always be considered (for example, by identifying how these theories of justice inform programs of various political parties and movements that are important part of the political scene in Europe and elsewhere.

Literature

Last update: PhDr. Petr Bednařík, Ph.D. (23.11.2021)

COURSE READINGS.

All readings will be available in electronic format available for download from the course website (in the SIS).

Principal readings will be drawn from the following books:

Robert C. Solomon, Mark C. Murphy (eds), What Is Justice? Classic and Contemporary Readings. 2^nd Edition, OUP, 2000.

Alan Ryan (ed.), Justice, Oxford Readings in Politics and Government, OUP, 1993.

John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia

Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice

Peter Dews (ed.), Habermas: A Critical Reader

Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice

Michael Sandel, Justice: What is the Right Thing to Do

Martha Nussbaum, Frontiers of Justice

T. Pogge, K. Horton (eds), Global Ethics: Seminal Essays, Paragon, 2008

T. Pogge, D. Moellendorf (eds), Global Justice: Seminal Essays, Paragon House, 2008

M.R. Amstutz, International Ethics: Concepts, Theories, and Cases in Global Politics, Rowman and Littlefield, 2008

P. Hayden (ed.),Ethics and International Relations, Ashgate, 2009

R. Shapcott, International Ethics. A Critical Introduction, Polity, 2010

G. Graham, Ethics and International Relations, Blackwell,1997

T. Brooks (ed.), The Global Justice Reader, Blackwell, 2008

N. Dower, World Ethics, Edinburgh University Press, 1998

P. Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization, Yale University Press, 2002

K. Hutchings, Global Ethics: An Introduction, Polity, 2010.

 

Syllabus

Last update: Janusz Salamon, Ph.D. (19.04.2024)

SYLLABUS

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the theories of justice in society (social justice) and in international relations (global justice). While the necessary historical and philosophical background of the age-long struggle for social justice will be taken into account, the main focus of the course will be the contemporary debates about justice in domestic and international politics. Since “theories of justice” constitute the central part of the contemporary political theory, the ideas of some of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century will be discussed in the course of the semester, and the class readings will include fragments of some of the most important works of political philosophy of our times. Discussing various theories of justice, their relevance to the current political practice will always be considered (for example, by identifying how these theories of justice inform programs of various political parties and movements that are important part of the political scene in Europe and elsewhere.

 

CLASS READINGS:

All class readings will be uploaded in a PDF format on this webpage.

They will be extracted chiefly from the following anthologies:

Ethics: The Essential Writings (ed. Marino)

Introduction to Philosophy: Classical and Contemporary Readings (ed. Perry, Bratman, Fischer)

Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida (ed. Baird)

Philosophy and Contemporary Issues (ed. Burr, Goldinger)

Philosophy: The Quest for Truth (ed. Pojman)

The Truth about the World: Basic Readings in Philosophy (ed. Rachels)

 

 

COURSE GRADING:

Final Written Exam:                  65%

Final Essay:                              35% 

Total:                                      100%

FINAL ESSAY INSTRUCTION:

TOPIC OF THE FINAL ESSAY: Each student will choose the topic of the final essay individually, by selecting one CLASS TOPIC explored in the relevant CLASS READINGS (uploaded on the current course webpage in the SIS), doing an additional approximately 100 pages of relevant scholarly reading on that topic (found on EBSO, JSTOR or other reliable sources of academic publications on problems social justice), and discussing intelligently, critically and creatively the issue under consideration. (Narrowing the focus of the discussion is always preferable to treating the research question in a shallow and vague manner.)

LENGTH: 1500 to 1700 words

DEADLINE: 48 before your final exam

FINAL EXAM INSTRUCTION:

FINAL EXAM is an in-class 3 hours long written exam (students choose one of the three exam dates by registering in the SIS).

FINAL EXAM will include "discussing" 3 topics selected by the student from a list of 6-7 topics provided by the lecturer. Only the topics explored in the class readings will be included. The aim of the exam is to test students' command of the main ideas about justice explored in the class readings, and their ability to think about the problems of justice in a philosophical manner (i.e., rationally and critically, considering arguments employed by the authors studied throughout the semester).

GRADING SCALE:

• A = 91-100 % – excellent
• B = 81-90 % – very good
• C = 71-80 % – good
• D = 61-70 % – satisfactory
• E = 51-60 % – minimal pass
• F = 0-50 % – fail