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Democratic altruism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2020

Ana Tanasoca Open the ORCID record for Ana Tanasoca [Opens in a new window]  and
John S. Dryzek
Ana Tanasoca*
Affiliation:
Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
John S. Dryzek
Affiliation:
Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: ana.tanasoca@mq.edu.au
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Abstract

Transnational altruism comes in many forms, prominently among them private giving through charitable NGOs. This paper focuses on the altruistic actions of those giving to charitable organizations and especially on the subsequent altruistic choices of those second-order, donor-organizations. Leaving choices about how donated money should be used exclusively in the hands of donors is morally problematic in various ways. This is why transnational relationships that involve private giving from rich to poor should be democratized. We propose thus a new moral principle for guiding altruistic behavior: democratic altruism. We develop our argument by focusing on the moral powers and formative agency that donors exercise through their charitable behavior, in particular through their choice to support particular types of aid or organizations. We argue that if and when donors give, they should do so in a way that allows the poor to exercise formative agency as well, in decisions over how donated resources should be used on the ground.

Keywords

altruismeffective altruismcharityjusticeglobal povertyaffected interests
Type
Research Article
Information
International Theory , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , July 2021 , pp. 205 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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