Date of Award

2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Philosophy

Abstract

The current international trade regime is flawed, unjust and in need of redress. It largely ignores concerns for global economic justice, and fails those most in need of a strategy to help them move out of extreme poverty. It exacerbates inequalities, both between states in global society and within individual countries. It also creates a competitive pressure on producers to use the differing legal standards and enforcement between countries to externalize important environmental, social /human rights and cultural costs that harm others now or in the future.

In the first two chapters, this dissertation draws out, and considers critically, the position several philosophers with strong, well known, positions on economic justice have taken in relation to international trade in order to construct a working baseline for justice in international trade . In the third chapter, it then discusses the two standard models for international trade, the self-regulating free trade model and the protectionist alternative, considering critiques of, and support for, the models from the point of view of economists concerned about poverty, inequality and environmental and social issues. In the fourth chapter several alternative models, proposed by philosophers or economists, for a more just international trade regime are examined and evaluated. In the fifth chapter, a new alternative model for a more just international trade regime is presented, which takes into account; concerns for reducing absolute poverty in global society, reduction of economic inequalities that lead to political inequality both in international society and within states, and the concern for ensuring that social and environmental costs for others, now and in the future are accounted for.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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