Rethinking Remedial Responsibilities

Brooks, Thom

Abstract

How should we determine which nations have a responsibility to remedy suffering elsewhere? The problem is pressing because, following David Miller, ‘[it] is morally intolerable if (remediable) suffering and deprivation are allowed to continue . . . where they exist we are morally bound to hold somebody (some person or collective agent) responsible for relieving them’. Miller offers a connection theory of remedial responsibilities in response to this problem, a theory he has been developing over the last decade. This theory is meant to serve as a guide on how we can best determine which nations are remedially responsible for alleviating suffering and deprivation elsewhere. Miller’s theory entails our following a procedure in order to determine remedial responsibility for nations. The problem is that there is an important flaw in this procedure, a flaw that previous critiques have overlooked. This essay will explain this flaw and how Miller’s theory might be reformulated into a two-tiered procedure that would take better account of this problem.

Citation

Brooks, T. (2011). Rethinking Remedial Responsibilities. Ethics and Global Politics, 4(3), 195-202. https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v4i3.7140

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: 2011
• Deposit Date: Nov 16, 2012
• Journal: Ethics and Global Politics
• Print ISSN: 1654-4951
• Electronic ISSN: 1654-6369
• Publisher: Department of Government
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 195-202
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/egp.v4i3.7140
• Keywords: Global justice; nationalism; Miller; identity; distributive justice; severe poverty
• Publisher URL: 10.3402/egp.v4i3.7140