The monograph analyses whether social, economic and political institutions affect the justification, the scope and the content of principles of distributive justice. First, it examines whether institutions are necessary for generating requirements of distributive justice, and considers implications for global justice. Second, it develops a novel theory about the role political and economic institutions play in determining the content of requirements of distributive justice, and shows how they can affect the scope of application of these requirements. The book defends a cosmopolitan conception ... More

The monograph analyses whether social, economic and political institutions affect the justification, the scope and the content of principles of distributive justice. First, it examines whether institutions are necessary for generating requirements of distributive justice, and considers implications for global justice. Second, it develops a novel theory about the role political and economic institutions play in determining the content of requirements of distributive justice, and shows how they can affect the scope of application of these requirements. The book defends a cosmopolitan conception of distributive justice and argues that there are some egalitarian distributive requirements with a global scope. It critically discusses statist positions that limit the scope of justice to nation-states on the basis of regarding special relations such as common nationality or political and economic institutions as necessary to generate requirements of justice. The argument demonstrates that these relational theories cannot justify statism. The book also shows that political and economic institutions may be necessary to assess alternative distributive shares and to guide and evaluate individual conduct and institutional design. They can limit the applicability of principles of justice even in a cosmopolitan conception.