The need for a global redistribution of wealth, the reduction of inequality between North and South, management of human migration flows, protection from environmental risk, the struggle against transnational terrorism networks: such issues transcend national boundaries and embody what Habermas called the "post-national constellation". The phenomenon of globalisation requires a thorough restructuring of issues concerning justice. Normative approaches must meet the challenge of defining adjudication and ethical evaluation criteria that are valid beyond official state borders and not limited to closed communities. The debate about justice, however, mainly concerns the relationship between the citizens of a national state not only from the vantage point of classic philosophical approaches, ranging from Plato to Rawls, but also in terms of everyday understanding. This book systematically addresses crucial topics pertaining to "global justice", discusses its "pros and cons", and examines the chief difficulties, both theoretical and practical, that arise from a concept of justice that does not exclusively involve a local political community.

Isabel Trujillo teaches Philosophy of Law at the University of Palermo.