ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces a key contemporary debate in global distributive justice. This debate is located in international legal and political debate concerning the appropriate way to manage the global commons. On the international plane most regimes for the allocation of ownership rights and distributive obligations are thought to be the internal concern of sovereign states. The global commons are primarily international resources pools that are not owned by a sovereign or commercial entity. The negotiation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) from 1973 to 1982 dealt with many issues. In particular it focused on sovereignty over the sea and rights to exclusive economic activity beyond territorial waters. An international political theory that takes the justice of global commons governance seriously has to confront a number of features of this debate.
