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Home > Resources > Ethics & International Affairs Journal > Volume 19.1 (Spring 2005) > Symposium: World Poverty and Human Rights |
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Severe Poverty as a Violation of Negative Duties [Excerpt]
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March 30, 2005
Mathias Risse discusses whether the global system of territorial sovereignty
that emerged in the fifteenth century can be said to harm the poorer societies.
This question is distinct from the question I raise in my book—namely, whether
present citizens of the affluent countries, in collusion with the ruling elites
of most poor countries, are harming the global poor. These questions are
different, because present citizens of the affluent countries bear
responsibility only for the recent design of the global institutional order. The
effects of the states system as it was shaped before 1980, say, is thus of
little relevance to the question I have raised. A further difference is that
whereas Risse’s discussion focuses on the well-being of societies, typically
assessed by their GNP per capita, my discussion focuses on the well-being of
individual human beings. This difference is significant because what enriches a
poor country (in terms of GNP per capita) all too often impoverishes the vast
majority of its inhabitants, as I discuss with the example of Nigeria’s oil
revenues (pp. 112–14). My focus is then on the present situation, on the radical
inequality between the bottom half of humankind, suffering severe poverty, and
those in the top seventh, whose per capita share of the global product is 180
times greater than theirs (at market exchange rates). This radical inequality
and the continuous misery and death toll it engenders are foreseeably reproduced
under the present global institutional order as we have shaped it. And most of
it could be avoided, I hold, if this global order had been, or were to be,
designed differently. The feasibility of a more poverty-avoiding alternative
design of the global institutional order shows, I argue, that the present design
is unjust and that, by imposing it, we are harming the global poor by
foreseeably subjecting them to avoidable severe poverty. . .
To read or purchase the full text of this article, click here.
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The Carnegie Council's flagship publication, Ethics & International Affairs is an interdisciplinary resource for scholars, students, and policy analysts concerned with the moral dimensions of global issues. The journal covers global justice, civil society, democratization, international law, intervention, sanctions, and related topics.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
To subscribe to Ethics & International Affairs, or to purchase individual issues and articles, go to Blackwell Publishing.
RESPONSES
The Editors welcome responses to Features and Essays published in Ethics & International
Affairs. To be considered for publication, responses should be no longer than one
thousand words, including endnotes (which
should be kept to a minimum). Responses
are not peer-reviewed, and are published at
the Editors' discretion. All responses are
subject to editing for length and style. In the
event of any questions or substantive editing,
the response will be returned to the author
for final approval prior to publication.
Responses are published online, alongside
the article they address.
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