World Poverty and Human Rights. Cosmmopolitan Responsibility and Reform

Product Description


The poorest 46 percent of humankind have 1.2 percent of global income.
Their purchasing power per person per day is less than that of $2.15 in
the US in 1993; 826 million of them do not have enough to eat. One-third
of all human deaths are from poverty-related causes: 18 million
annually, including 12 million children under five.
At the other end, the 15 percent of humankind in the 'high-income economies' have 80 percent of global income. Shifting 1 or 2 percent of our share toward poverty eradication seems morally compelling. Yet the prosperous 1990s have in fact brought a large shift toward greater global inequality, as most of the affluent believe that they have no such responsibility.
Thomas Pogge's book seeks to explain how this belief is sustained. He analyses how our moral and economic theorizing and our global economic order have adapted to make us appear disconnected from massive poverty abroad. Dispelling the illusion, he also offers a modest, widely sharable standard of global economic justice and makes detailed, realistic proposals toward fulfilling it.


Review


"This book is the product of a powerful and generative philosophical imagination. ... This is certainly the most acute study of the moral dimensions of world poverty to date; it is also a significant work of philosophy in its own right."

Ethics & International Affairs
"World Poverty and Human Rights is an outstandingly well argued contribution in the debate of political philosophy. Pogge provides a consistent moral account of international justice as well as the relevant facts and dispels the illusion that we are disconnected from massive poverty abroad."
International Journal of Contemporary Sociology
"Those familiar with Pogge's writings will welcome the publication, in a single volume, of some of the most important articles to date on global justice. Others will find the arguments therein fascinating, not least because the author addresses difficult institutional questions that philosophers overlook"
Cecile Fabre, London School of Economics
"The book is a powerful work in moral philosophy, chock full of arguments and relevant empirical data."
Hugh LaFollette, Ethics
"An impressive contribution."
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice


From the Back Cover


The poorest 46 percent of humankind have 1.2 percent of global income.
Their purchasing power per person per day is less than that of $2.15 in
the US in 1993; 826 million of them do not have enough to eat. One-third
of all human deaths are from poverty-related causes: 18 million
annually, including 12 million children under five.
At the other end, the 15 percent of humankind in the 'high-income economies' have 80 percent of global income. Shifting 1 or 2 percent of our share toward poverty eradication seems morally compelling. Yet the prosperous 1990s have in fact brought a large shift toward greater global inequality, as most of the affluent believe that they have no such responsibility.
Thomas Pogge's book seeks to explain how this belief is sustained. He analyses how our moral and economic theorizing and our global economic order have adapted to make us appear disconnected from massive poverty abroad. Dispelling the illusion, he also offers a modest, widely sharable standard of global economic justice and makes detailed, realistic proposals toward fulfilling it.


About the Author


Thomas W. Pogge is Associate Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University