Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- 1 Speculation and discipline
- 2 The universal welfare state and the question of individual autonomy
- 3 Is governance possible?
- 4 What can the state do? An analytical model
- 5 Just institutions matter
- 6 The political and moral logic of the universal welfare state
- 7 Putting history in order
- 8 The autonomous citizen and the future of the universal welfare policy
- 9 Toward a constructive theory of public policy
- Bibliography
- Index
5 - Just institutions matter
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- 1 Speculation and discipline
- 2 The universal welfare state and the question of individual autonomy
- 3 Is governance possible?
- 4 What can the state do? An analytical model
- 5 Just institutions matter
- 6 The political and moral logic of the universal welfare state
- 7 Putting history in order
- 8 The autonomous citizen and the future of the universal welfare policy
- 9 Toward a constructive theory of public policy
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
A just system must generate its own support. This means that it must be arranged so as to bring about in its members the corresponding sense of justice, an effective desire to act in accordance with its rules for reasons of justice. Thus the requirement of stability and the criterion of discouraging desires that conflict with the principles of justice put further constraints on institutions. They must be not only just but framed so as to encourage the virtue of justice in those who take part in them.
This quotation from John Rawls may serve to illustrate the major question of this chapter, namely: what is the relation between the institutions making up the political system (most especially those charged with implementing social policy) and the norms of justice prevailing in society? And how can such institutions be shaped so as “to encourage the virtue of justice in those who take part in them”?
The story of The Pale Rider
The course of events portrayed in The Pale Rider (a western made by Clint Eastwood in the mid-1980s) may serve to illustrate the point of departure for this chapter. The events in question (freely interpreted after three viewings) proceed as follows. A small settlement of gold miners is harassed by the powerful and wealthy owner of a mining company. This is because they have staked a claim to some land downstream which the mine-owner covets (in order to expand his operations).
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- Chapter
- Information
- Just Institutions MatterThe Moral and Political Logic of the Universal Welfare State, pp. 116 - 143Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998
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