Nicole Hassoun, “Globalization and Global Justice: Shrinking Distance, Expanding Obligations” (Cambridge UP, 2012)
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What moral obligations do wealthy societies have toward the global poor?
Hello everyone and welcome to the New Books and Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talese. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter. Today. I'll be talking with Nicole Hassoon about her new book. Globalization and global justice. Which has just been published by Cambridge University Press. Nicole Hassoon is an associate professor of philosophy at Sunni Binghamton. Citizens of well developed liberal democracies. Enjoy an unprecedented standard of living. While a staggering number of people worldwide live in unbelievable poverty. It seems obvious that the well off have moral obligations to those who are impoverished. There's a question regarding the nature and extent of these obligations.
Some hold that well off societies and their citizens owe substantial duties of humanitarian assistance to the global poor. While others claim that our duties are stronger than this. They claim that our duties to the global poor are a matter of justice. In her new book, Nicole Hassoon proposes a new kind of argument for what she calls serious moral duties to the global poor. Her argument turns on the claim that in our globalized world People all over the world are subject to the coercive power of international institutions. Drawing upon a familiar principle of political philosophy. She claims that coercive institutions are legitimate. Only if they can win the consent of those subject to them. From this, she argues that international institutions owe to the global poor whatever is required in order to enable them to exercise a kind of minimal autonomy.
And this autonomy requires access to food, shelter, water, and education. Hassoon's argument then is that familiar minimal requirements for legitimate coercion coercion entail more extensive positive duties to the global poor. And in her book she identifies several policies that she believes must be put in place. Globalization and Global Justice is a self contained and tightly argued work of political philosophy that I highly recommend. Let's turn to the interview. Hello, Nicole Hassoon.
Hello.
Thank you so much for joining me on New Books in Philosophy this morning. How are you?
I'm great. Thanks for having me. How are you?
Oh, I'm doing okay. Um, so today my guest on New Books and Philosophy is Professor Nicole Hassoon. She's the author of the new book Globalization and Global Justice. Shrinking distance, expanding obligations, and this book has just been published by Cambridge University Press. Um it's a great book and I highly recommend it. Um The book proceeds in two parts. The first is a conceptual part, um and the second is largely empirical, though not devoid of of normative analysis. For that, um the first part presents uh what Nicole calls a new kind of argument for serious moral obligations to the global poor. The second part presents some policy strategies and recommendations. for meeting these obligations. Um This is a very engaging book.
It's a v it's one of its many virtues is uh The way it combines, um sharp philosophical analysis with um real empirical uh or concern for real empirical data. Um and so there's a lot to talk about. Uh we'll get to uh the details of the book in a moment. But first, Nicole, why don't you tell us a little bit about how you came to philosophy and how in particular you came to this particular project?
Great. Um so I guess I became interested in А дує фолософіналась прити ян. Uh I remember being in kindergarten and thinking about whether God existed and coming to the conclusion that he did not. Uh and then that didn't make my parents so happy, but it it led to a lot of great conversations with my gym teacher, so Um Uh I I uh I didn't think I would go into it until I realized that it was possible to actually make a living doing this as a professor. And uh switched my major in college from pre vet But what I really got excited about was doing global justice when I started Travelling and seeing how people were living and In a large part of the world.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What moral obligations do wealthy societies have toward the global poor?
0:03–8:45
2
How does Hassoun link international coercive institutions to obligations of aid?
8:45–19:52
3
What is the ‘minimal autonomy’ requirement and why does it matter for global justice?
19:52–30:45
4
How does the book address libertarian critiques of global redistribution?
30:45–40:50
5
What role do consent and objection play in legitimizing global institutions?
40:50–49:31
6
How does Hassoun evaluate foreign aid versus free‑trade as policy tools?
49:31–52:03
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from New Books in Philosophy
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