Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
What is Justice?
considerations as well as by the formal excise
of
exclusionary power
(Gender
and Water
Alliance 2006).
Equally, those who stand individually to make
large gains or losses are more likely to consider
that these potential gains or losses exceed the
costs of participating. The role of NGOs and
other organizations is thus to reduce the cost of
participating, indirectly, to those who are mem-
bers of such bodies. But the formation of NGOs
does not necessarily match the interests of every-
one who has a sustainable claim to involvement.
If, for example, the costs of any river management
or other scheme are borne by the general taxpayers,
then unless their interest is represented, the other
stakeholders can enjoy spending other people's
money in order to resolve their conflicts.
Trying to define justice has consequently been
a major theme in human thought both in juris-
prudence and philosophy, whilst collective deci-
sions are often centred on debates as to what is
just, fair or equitable. For practical purposes, what
is important is that justice - and what constitutes
justice in a particular case - is contested.
The definition of justice can be approached
from three positions:
1
defining an initial state (e.g. Rawls 1971;
Noznick 1974);
2
defining an end state (e.g. Bentham 1970);
3
defining a process by which to reach a decision.
The first two approaches offer the apparent
possibility of a rule by which individual decisions
can be reached, particularly if the initial or end
state can be ascribed either to natural law (e.g.
Noznick 1974) or the requirements of a deity. An
alternative approach is that the state arises from
a social contract - a binding, overarching agree-
ment in forming a community. This is the
approach to which Rawls is the most recent and
influential exponent.
There are, therefore, differing conceptualiza-
tions of justice and so the debate in a particular
situation frequently centres about which concept
of justice to apply. That debate is often made more
difficult insofar as a simple rule is unlikely to be
seen as yielding equitable results in every single
case - inEnglish law, the lawof equity developed to
deal with cases where the rule of law was not seen
to result in justice (Worthington 2003). Converse-
ly, more complex rules are likely to give different
results in the same instance; thus, Sen (1992) ar-
gued that the problem with equality is that the
achievement of one form of equality is likely to
preclude the achievement of another form of
equality.
What debates about justice share are:
1
Justice is the application of some universal
principle consistentlyacross cases; soGreen (2003)
summarized the concept of justice as 'a moral
principle consistently applied'. What is then ar-
gued is: whichmoral principle ought to be applied,
and what constitutes consistency?
Why does Justice Matter?
Human society has been dominated by concerns
that individuals should behave ethically and col-
lective decisions should be based upon justice.
What has been argued over the millennia has been
the question of what is the appropriate ethical
framework, and what constitutes justice? What
function therefore does justice serve? The first
apparent purpose of justice is to avoid all conflicts
being settled by physical power; the second, relat-
ed, purpose is to ensure the continuity of the
community. As Wenzel (2001) argued: 'Justice
serves to maintain the status and values of one's
group. People strive towards justice, even at the
cost of their personal outcomes, because justice
strengthens the values of their group and thus
contributes to their social identity in terms of that
group'. If there are gains to be had fromcooperation
or collaboration, then it is necessary to establish
a systemwhere short-term gains and losses do not
prevent the achievement of those long-term gains.
Both humans and other species seem to have
learnt the lesson that over the longer term the
gains from cooperation or collaboration are such
that they must be preserved (Ridley 1997). Justice
provides the base for the continuity necessary for
this collaborative activity.
