ScholarOne - The Interdependent Relationship between Global Justice and Global Democracy

Because they conceive justice as an objective moral obligation, moral realists assume that the relationship between global justice and global democracy is hierarchical. However, a moral anti-realist account of this relationship rejects any objective ordering that would give global democracy or global justice priority over the other. Indeed, even though individuals can value one ideal more than the other at a given time, nothing definitive and objective can be said about the relative importance of justice and democracy which entirely depends on each person’s beliefs and desires. Such an account of the relationship between justice and democracy provides a better explanation of their empirical interdependence. Finally, it is argued that global democracy and global justice are best treated as two interdependent issues both empirically and normatively.