An important area of study for the discipline of ethics is theories of justice. With increasing globalization and a world that is keenly aware of the effects of economic exploitation, military devastation and environmental crises like pollution and global warming, there is a need to theorize and practice global justice. Goran Collste, a professor of applied ethics at Linkoping University, argues for what he calls “global rectificatory justice” (1). Building upon his previous work on social justice and colonial injustices, Collste’s work is an important intervention in the vibrant scholarship on the ethics of global justice.
Collste notes that though the field of global justice is robust, much of it focuses on what is called “distributive justice” (1). Drawn from the writings of Aristotle, distributive justice “deals with the distribution of scarce resources” (6). In his book, Collste advocates for rectificatory justice which is “backward-looking and focuses on correction for past misdeeds” (6). His significant contribution reorients the ethics of global justice by acknowledging the historical wounds afflicted by colonialism. His argument is based on Beauchamp and Childress’ “principle of non-maleficence” and rooted in four primary premises: “(1) there is a moral obligation to compensate for the consequences of harmful acts; (2) colonialism was in various ways harmful to the colonies; (3) the present unjust global structure is a legacy of colonialism; and (4) the obligation to carry out rectification is trans-generational so long as there are identifiable beneficiaries and victims of past injustices in the present” (10). The four premises are the foundation upon which Collste builds his case and persuasively advocates for the need for rectificactory justice.
The connection between colonialism and the need for rectificactory justice is convincing. He understands the epistemic, cultural, social and economic violence of colonialism as enduring wounds that shape the present unjust and unequal global structure. Historically, colonies were subject “to invasion, war, and occupation, to slavery and forced labour, to genocide and massacres, to extermination of domestic religions and cultures, to the forced resettlement of populations, to economic dominance, and to exploitation and various other kinds of human rights violations” (10). The global nature of colonialism which devastated whole populations around the world left an indelible wound which persists today in the current inequalities among former colonies and their colonizers. When Collste asks whether colonialism has left a trace, a Pakistani master’s student in his applied ethics class poignantly answers, “Yes, certainly! Everything Pakistani is today considered of less worth comparted to the West ... to be beautiful is to have blond hair not back, to be civilized is to eat with knife and fork, not to eat in our traditional way, and our traditional languages are superseded by English” (4).
The recognizable effects of colonialism in history is an essential constitutive element of Collste’s argument while his methods are that of a philosopher of ethics, employing persuasive argumentation, thought-experiments and citing previous philosophers from Aristotle to Locke. Blending the methods of the historian with that of the ethicists produces a strong case for a complimentary rectificatory justice that is convincing and imbued with a sense of urgency. Much of the argument for a need for rectificatory justice are found in Chapter 2, where he notes how “scholars in philosophy, political science, international relations, and other disciplines are turning their attention to global relations and in particular the implications of globalization on ethics and international politics” (17). Collste’s intervention acknowledges the ethicists increasing interest in globalization’s impact, but goes further by introducing and arguing for a global justice that redresses past wrongs.
Chapter 3, 4 and 5 deal primarily with colonialism. Chapter 3 gives a general overview of colonialism and “how European hegemony was established” (33). The chapter is a brief, but an important history of colonialism, imperialism and decolonization. Chapter 4 presents five specific cases of colonialism vis-à-vis Uganda, Congo, South West Africa, Kenya and India. Using a synthesis of secondary sources, Collste’s five case studies demonstrate the devastating effects of colonialism. After discussing the ruination in the wake of colonial rule, Chapter 5 explores the legacy of colonialism in “how colonialism and imperialism shaped the present global structure” (76). He continues this exploration in Chapter 6 where he draws upon the framework of social theorist Rajeev Bhargava to examine the “epistemic injustice” of colonialism (86).
After presenting a brief history of colonialism, giving case examples of its effects and analysing its endurance, Collste begins to thread the needle in Chapter 7 which “analyse the arguments for rectification for the slave trade” (90). Chapter 8 looks at rectificatory justice for former colonies individually. In Chapter 9, Collste makes a thorough examination of “the meaning of rectificatory justice and how it applies to the rectification of colonial harms” (115). Chapter 10 is an important ethical analysis of rectificatory justice and pre-empts questions, objections and concerns by addressing the philosophical challenges of rectificatory justice. In Chapter 11 and 12, Collste, makes the case that rectificatory justice’s nature as backward-looking and corrective is simultaneously forward-looking and provides a means of reconciliation. The final chapter, number 13, is interestingly different from the majority of the text, but bookends the argument by presenting a case study of the Doha summit as a model for the way forward.
Collste’s book is well-structured with a hierarchy of arguments that are convincingly presented. He takes the time to methodically formulate the historical case for rectificatory justice by presenting persuasive and erudite chapters on the nature, history, effect and legacy of colonialism. After showing the reader the indelible wounds, as he calls them, he leads them to the means by which to redress those wounds via his thorough analysis of rectificatory justice, its meaning, implications and its ability to produce reconciliation. Without a doubt, Goran Collste’s Global Rectificatory Justice is an important intervention in the discipline of applied ethics, but scholars of globalization, philosophy, international affairs, political philosophy, history and activists will find the book worthwhile as well.
