COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A

GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: Concept and Meaning of Law,
ODISHA Justice and Globalisation (WEEK 1)
INSTRUCTORS: MS. ELUCKIAA A.

CONCEPT AND MEANING OF LAW, JUSTICE AND

GLOBALISATION

CAN GLOBAL JUSTICE BE REALIZED?

To most of us, the understanding of the concept of justice that we have is limited mostly to
the administration of justice in a national or domestic level, where the state institutions are
responsible for guaranteeing justice in the domestic territory. On the other side, the forces of
contemporary globalization is flattening- and levelling the world for all countries to play an
equal part- integrating the world into a larger global system of social, economic and political
system.

This course is aimed at presenting the application of theories of law and justice in this
globalising world. There are of course several questions that we must ask ourselves when we
intend to embark upon this journey. The first question is of course, how we look at justice
and how we look at globalization. It is definitely difficult to come to one answer on these
questions, for each of us would perceive justice differently and perhaps would experience
globalization differently. For Rahul, a twenty-year-old man of the upper middle class- his
perception of the Indian police would be different, based on his experiences in dealings with
the police as a man of his socio-economic status, than it would be for Kajal, a 16-year-old
tribal girl given her socio-economic status. Not only would the age, the money, the difference
in education level, the caste or race play a part in such difference, but also the often over-
looked gender difference in such perception.

Hence, Abdul Mohammed, an immigrant from Syria in Canada might feel the world-wide
condemnation of terror attacks in Belgium is overrated and underplays the sufferings faced
by citizens in developing countries like his own, making him angry at the injustice of the
anti-Muslim bias in his Canadian school, while for his classmates in Canadian school, he
would seem to be advocating in favour of the Belgium attackers simply because of his
criticisms of the peaceful protest movements. In this case, both groups would be equally
 COURSE: LAW & JUSTICE IN A
GLOBALIZING WORLD
NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY TOPIC: Concept and Meaning of Law,
ODISHA Justice and Globalisation (WEEK 1)
INSTRUCTORS: MS. ELUCKIAA A.

justified in their thinking, and both would believe the behaviour of the other is against the
norm of justice.

Hence the concept of justice in a globalised world is a discursive concept. The truth is after
all depends entirely on the perceptive interpretation of certain facts being highly subjective.

In the world we live in, several practical implications trouble us- what is justice, what is just,
why do we see justice differently-who guarantees that we are treated justly, who dispenses
justice? Every society answers these questions differently in their own context. Yet, the long
history of colonialism and the western hegemony of knowledge systems and information
distribution mean that the notions that we accept on global levels correspond mostly to the
established norms of the powerful economic rationale of these countries. This, of course,
changes the utopian answer to the first question. This also makes it clear to us, that in a world
governed by differences and discussions, justice in non-linear.

REFERENCES

1. Andrew Heywood, Political Theory (3rd ed. 2004).

2. Michael S. Barr and Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Globalization, Law and Development-
Introduction and overview (Globalization, Law and Development Conference), Mich. J. Int'l
L. (2004).
3. Alison Brysk and Arturo Jiminez-Bacardi, The Politics of the Globalization of Law- Getting
from Rights to Justice, (1st ed., Alison Brysk, 2014).

THINKING EXERCISE
Interview seven children in your neighbourhood who come from affluent homes, and seven others
from not so affluent homes. Finally, talk to seven children who live on the streets or work as child
labour. Ask each if they know what justice is. See and note the differences in their conceptions of
justice (whatever they might be). Then contrast these views with that of seven adults who can be from
any realm of society. Discuss with your other fellow students about their results and compare these
discussions.