Social Justice and Development

Author: 
Morvaridi, B
Publisher: 
Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008, ISBN: 978-1-4039-9239-0, 224 pp.
Reviewed by or other comment: 

Anne Leewis

Humanitarian Programme Assistant,

Oxfam GB,

Ethiopia Office

We live in an unequal world, with the majority of the wealth and opportunities in the hands of a few. The paradigm of social or global justice seeks to tackle this, and there is an important link with development, as inequality prevents a country from developing and expanding its economy. The introduction starts with placing the idea of social justice in the broader framework of development and poverty to illustrate its importance. Morvaridi does not take basic concepts such as ‘development’ or ‘equality’ for granted, but sets out to present the debate about these themes and their interrelatedness. Also briefly considering the debate on the universality of human rights, the introduction from the start places the book firmly at the intersection of many current debates in development.

In the first few chapters, numerous paradigms, authors, and their critiques are described. The second chapter considers the emergence of the idea of rights and social justice in development. With a brief assessment of modernisation and dependency theory, this background helps to situate the idea of the ‘Right to Development’, a central concept in this book. The concept has no legal status but it has reference to two international Covenants and therefore gives some legal force to obligations, although it does not come from a legal positivist position. The implementation of the right to development is not straightforward, and it includes many actors. The nation state is the most important duty bearer, but the international community also plays an important role. Morvaridi presents some of the challenges that accompany the concept, mostly linking to the problem of universality of rights, paying extra attention to the critique coming from the Asian and Islamic perspectives. Although these are certainly not new debates, the author succeeds in sketching the context and complexities that both national governments and international actors face when using a rights-based approach.

The book takes different dominant paradigms, such as neo-liberalism in Chapter 3, and examines how they obstruct the concept of social justice. Neo-liberalism persists as a dominant way of thinking in development. Its economists prefer to talk of individual freedom, limited state activity, and a free market. For the author, however, they lack an appreciation of the context of the poor, suggesting that the poor are responsible for their own poverty. Morvaridi then continues to discuss economic globalisation and its impact on global social justice. The increasing interdependence caused by economic globalisation challenges the assumptions of a right to development.

This book seems to be very relevant for people who are unfamiliar with numerous theories in development, and how they have developed over the years, particularly those related to rights in one way or another. Some of the most important thinkers are mentioned and discussed briefly, as well as important terminology such as ‘sustainability’, ‘universality’, and ‘conditionality’. At times, however, readers might suffer from information overload and lose sight of the aim of the book. The author tries to tackle and include too many debates, authors, and paradigms, which does not make for a smooth read.

The first few chapters merely restate the opinions of others in numerous areas, something that has been done time and time again. The last two chapters are more interesting, as the author finally seems to refocus his writing on explaining why the current global political and economic system often obstructs or complicates the concept of social justice. Although a smooth transition between different sections of the chapters is missing, new ideas are introduced. He discusses how intergovernment organisations fail to address social justice and issues of inequality, because they are ruled by the world’s most powerful nations. The strength of the book lies there, in the critique of those organisations’ capacity to address issues of structural inequality and how they use the term ‘global governance’ as a justification for this. He does not merely focus on institutions of global governance, but also on the ways in which transnational corporations have increasingly become actors in the field of social justice, under the rubric of corporate social responsibility (CSR). However, CSR does come slightly out of the blue, as the majority of the book focuses on government-related institutions. It would have been interesting to read the author’s rationale for considering only large institutions regarding global governance and transnational corporations, because there are certainly other actors also working in the field of social justice, such as NGOs like Amnesty or Human Rights Watch, both of whom have a considerable influence in the field.

Morvaridi aims to show how development and social justice are linked, and to analyse the legitimacy of power relations that ‘perpetuate social, political and economic injustices and inequalities between nation states, groups and individuals’ (p.1). He is successful in accomplishing his first aim, illustrating the emergence of the concept of social justice in relation to development theories. The second aim, which is more interesting than the first, is less successfully realised, and is tackled only at a late stage in the book, which is a shame. It seems that too much effort has been invested in trying to include as many theories as possible relating to the concept of social justice. The failures of major institutions in global governance and transnational corporations are portrayed clearly. The conclusion ends by presenting some changes that might trigger a move by the aforementioned actors towards adopting aims of social justice. Although relevant, none of them seems really innovative, nor does the author give an idea how these changes might be realised. Thus the recommendations remain mostly theoretical, with an ideological undertone. It would have been more challenging if the author had spent less time describing the theories and more time developing the analysis of the legitimacy of power relations.

The fact that Social Justice and Development challenges the economic order makes the book very relevant in the current global economic crisis, where increasingly it is argued that extensive changes are necessary in order to challenge inequalities. It is a shame, however, that most of the information and arguments that are being given are not new, and that too many opinions and concepts are presented. For those new to development paradigms, the brief, albeit somewhat disorganised, descriptions could be useful. For the majority, however, who already have some experience of development theories, this book will not be a valued addition. Still, with the current call to change the global economic order in order to create a more equal system, this book seems to be written at exactly the right time.