Equality and the Significance of Nationality

Abstract

This chapter responds to two nationalist objections to global egalitarianism. It considers first the metric problem argument, which maintains that there can be no appropriate metric for egalitarian justice to work beyond the context of a national community because a shared national culture is required to give content to the requirements of egalitarian justice. Second, it considers the dynamic problem argument, which maintains that egalitarian redistribution across societies is unfair because people belong to different national communities that are politically self-determining. In particular, it examines the idea of national responsibility and argues that the dynamic problem argument does not give us any reason to reject global egalitarianism.