From the Local to the Global: Theories and Key Issues in Global Justice

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King Jr.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

"Thought without practice is blind; practice without thought is empty." -Kwame Nkrumah

These quotes aptly capture the spirit, the essence, and reach of this book. From the Local to the Global: Theories and Key Issues in Global Social Justice explores and explains the relationships between social justice as it is conceived, constructed, understood and implemented locally and globally. It does so by examining social justice from a theoretical and substantive perspective. It takes the perspective that social justice is a multifaceted, dialectical, intersectional, and cross-cultural phenomenon with both local and global interfaces and implications.

The book is based on four premises: (1) Global Social Justice (GSJ) recognizes the commonality of the human condition. (2) GSJ is a deeply and inextricably a local and global phenomenon; one cannot exist in isolation from the other. In other words, the promotion or denial of social justice locally has both immediate and remote/future implications globally. The reverse is equally true; social justice promoted or demoted in a far flung corner of the world devalues social justice at home. (3) GSJ is transnational, transcending national and cultural boundaries. (4) GSJ is both a domestic and global normative imperative recognizing interstices of race, gender, class, sexuality, age, and (dis)ability.

The author argues that the overriding problem of global inequality must be addressed as a necessary condition for solving problems of health care, debt, racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, terrorism, and other critical issues facing citizens nationally and globally. In addition, the author posits that real-world solutions to social problems, be they local or global require collective global efforts.