ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that duties of global egalitarian distributive justice exist, respond to skepticism about duties of global distributive justice, and focuses on the principle and object of distributive justice. It applies the conclusions of moral theory to a matter of social theory, the theory of imperialism. The chapter discusses two issues of importance to development: the indebtedness of many developing societies and the costs arising from global warming. John Rawls maintains that a duty of assistance exists to other peoples only if their society requires resources to establish just or decent social and political institutions. The chapter follows Rawls's terminology and considers conceptions of "liberal equality" and "democratic equality". The principles of global distributive justice constituting democratic equality are superior to those of liberal equality. Empirical theories of economic imperialism, both Marxist and non-Marxist alike, aim to explain the causes and effects of the export of capital.
