Global poverty and responsibility -- Duties of beneficence -- Duties of redress -- Duties of institutional justice -- Responsibilities of affluent individuals.

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Ethics, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: This paper asks the following four questions: What is our moral responsibility for global poverty? Can historical injustices such as slavery and colonialism be linked to backward-looking responsibilities? Can the allocation of moral responsibility to rich and poor people be justified? Considering both, humanitarian and development aid, which of the two concepts is the more effective one in the face of the huge challenges of world poverty? The answer of the third question focuses immediately on the responsible actors that come into question, and the fourth on moral claims brought forward along with the practical implementation of particular claims. Having outlined the subject of the matter of this paper, it is now important to make clear the aims of it. These are twofold. First, it aims to explore in depth and to evaluate competing philosophical perspectives on the issue of moral responsibility towards the poor. As such it seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of three important contributions to this topic. These are the ethical theories of Peter Singer, Thomas Pogge and David Miller, whose disparate viewpoints lay a good foundation for the depiction of fundamental dissimilarities. Second, my investigation seeks, on the one hand, to show that a proper allocation of moral responsibility to rich and poor people under certain conditions is possible; and on the other hand, to provide a defence of the claim that development aid is the more appropriate concept of aid for combating poverty-related issues instead of humanitarian aid in view of the adverse criticism of Singer’s theory. In the end, I shall propose points that could make development aid more effective.

This book explores whether affluent people in the developed world have stringent responsibilities to help fight poverty abroad.

Some 2.5 billion human beings live in severe poverty, deprived of such essentials as adequate nutrition, safe drinking water, basic sanitation, adequate shelter, literacy, and basic health care. One third of all human deaths are from poverty-related causes: 18 million annually, including over 10 million children under five. However huge in human terms, the world poverty problem is tiny economically. Just 1 percent of the national incomes of the high-income countries would suffice to end severe poverty worldwide. Yet, these countries, unwilling to bear an opportunity cost of this magnitude, continue to impose a grievously unjust global institutional order that foreseeably and avoidably perpetuates the catastrophe. Most citizens of affluent countries believe that we are doing nothing wrong. Thomas Pogge seeks to explain how this belief is sustained. He analyses how our moral and economic theorizing and our global economic order have adapted to make us appear disconnected from massive poverty abroad. Dispelling the illusion, he also offers a modest, widely sharable standard of global economic justice and makes detailed, realistic proposals toward fulfilling it. Thoroughly updated, the second edition of this classic book incorporates responses to critics and a new chapter introducing Pogge's current work on pharmaceutical patent reform.

Absolute poverty causes about one third of all human deaths, some 18 million annually, and blights billions of lives with hunger and disease. Developing universalizable norms aimed at tackling absolute poverty and the complex and multilayered problems associated with it, this book considers the levels, trends and determinants of absolute poverty and global inequality. Examining whether much faster progress against absolute poverty is possible through reductions in national and global inequalities that produce economic growth for poor countries and households, this book suggests that diverse moral views imply that international agencies as well as the citizens, corporations and governments of affluent countries bear a moral responsibility to reduce absolute poverty. In considering strategies of eradication through specific policies and structural reforms it is argued that because of its moral importance and requirement for only modest efforts and resources, the goal of overcoming absolute poverty must be given much higher political priority by international agencies and governments of affluent countries. Suggesting that these agencies should be encouraged to facilitate and promote new initiatives, this book concludes with a discussion of how such initiatives might be realized.

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Ethics, Ruhr-University of Bochum, language: English, abstract: This paper asks the following four questions: What is our moral responsibility for global poverty? Can historical injustices such as slavery and colonialism be linked to backward-looking responsibilities? Can the allocation of moral responsibility to rich and poor people be justified? Considering both, humanitarian and development aid, which of the two concepts is the more effective one in the face of the huge challenges of world poverty? The answer of the third question focuses immediately on the responsible actors that come into question, and the fourth on moral claims brought forward along with the practical implementation of particular claims. Having outlined the subject of the matter of this paper, it is now important to make clear the aims of it. These are twofold. First, it aims to explore in depth and to evaluate competing philosophical perspectives on the issue of moral responsibility towards the poor. As such it seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of three important contributions to this topic. These are the ethical theories of Peter Singer, Thomas Pogge and David Miller, whose disparate viewpoints lay a good foundation for the depiction of fundamental dissimilarities. Second, my investigation seeks, on the one hand, to show that a proper allocation of moral responsibility to rich and poor people under certain conditions is possible; and on the other hand, to provide a defence of the claim that development aid is the more appropriate concept of aid for combating poverty-related issues instead of humanitarian aid in view of the adverse criticism of Singer's theory. In the end, I shall propose points that could make development aid more effective.

The Ethics of Global Poverty offers a thorough introduction to the ethical issues surrounding global poverty. It addresses important questions such as: What is poverty and how is it measured? What are the causes of poverty? Do wealthy individuals have a moral duty to reduce global poverty? Should aid go to those who are most in need, or to those who are easiest to help? Is it morally wrong to buy from sweatshops? Is it morally good to provide micro-finance? Featuring case studies throughout, this textbook is essential reading for students studying global ethics or global poverty who want an understanding of the moral issues that arise from vast inequalities of wealth and power in a highly interconnected world.