ABSTRACT
Justice is one of the most debated and reinterpreted of concepts. This opening chapter examines the relationships between various conceptions of justice, social inequalities and forms of democracy. In so doing, it also indicates which of the chapters in Justice Alternatives focus on specific dimensions and combinations of these relationships. The overall thrust is to argue that in times of rapid social change and political turmoil, democratic forms and their relationships to social inequalities require constant monitoring, reimagining, innovative experiment and debate if justice is to be realised as an effective tool for reducing social harms, combating political corruptions and increasing human and planetary protections.
