Brian Barry

Casi todos los países del mundo cuentan en la actualidad con diferentes religiones y distintas concepciones laicas de la vida. ¿Hay alguna alternativa a la lucha por el poder que suele producirse entre ellas y que puede conducir facilmente a la represion e incluso a la guerra civil? Segun el presente libro, la solucion reside en la justicia entendida como imparcialidad. En efecto, esa teoria afirma que son principios de justicia aquellos que proporcionan una base razonable para el asentimiento no forzado de quienes estan sometidos a ellos. Y el objetivo del autor, en este sentido, es exponer dicha teoria, explicar sus fundamentos logicos y responder a las diversas criticas de que ha sido objeto. Si Theories of Justice -primer volumen de A Treatise on Social Justice, cuya segunda entrega es este libro- exploraba teorias alternativas y terminaba con la afirmacion de la superioridad de la justicia como imparcialidad, en este caso esa conclusion se toma como punto de partida para urdir una teoria absolutamente independiente y, por añadidura, mas elaborada y compleja que la anterior: sin duda el mejor estudio existente sobre el problema de la distribucion equitativa y el mas sincero analisis critico sobre el tema.

A convincing picture of hard men in a hard time Dan Jones fiction rings with the authority of his scholarly history PHILIPPA GREGORY Absolutely fabulous A raucous swaggering charge through the medieval underworld I had such a good time reading it that I never wanted it to stop ANTONIA FRASER Superb historical fiction as fresh vivid and vital as this morning s headlines proves once again that nothing really changes be it a soldier s life or great storytelling LEE CHILDAN ENDLESS WAR A BLOOD SOAKED BATTLEFIELD A BAND OF BROTHERS 1347 After a bloody battle at Crecy the Essex Dogs pick through the wreckage of the fighting and their own lives Now the Dogs are sent to attack the soaring walls of Calais where a new siege is beginning To get home they must survive in a lawless camp that is deadlier than any battlefield Obsessed with finding the Captain Loveday is losing control of his men Romford is haunted by a horrific figure from his past And Scotsman is spiralling into a pit of drink violence and self pity The Dogs are being torn apart but this war is far from over It won t be long before they lose more of their own From a vast siege camp built outside Calais walls to pirate ships patrolling the harbour and finally into the darkest c

En la actualidad, la internacionalización de los problemas de la justicia exige reconsiderar a fondo sus principios objetivos, porque conceptos tan importantes como, por ejemplo, la justicia social requieren nuevas y solidas bases. En Teorias de la justicia, el eminente investigador en Ciencia Politica, Brian Barry, ofrece un analisis detallado y sistematico de dos teorias que considera como rivales: la justicia entendida como garantia de la ventaja mutua y la justicia entendida como principio de imparcialidad. Ambas teorias comparten dos rasgos importantes. Primero, tienen en comun la idea de que las cuestiones de justicia surgen cuando hay un conflicto de intereses entre personas o grupos diferentes y, en segundo lugar, tambien comparten la idea de que la justicia es algo sobre lo que podria alcanzarse un acuerdo racional. Pero, ¿como difieren entre si los dos enfoques?Desde la primera perspectiva se privilegia la idea de que el acuerdo refleje obligaciones que se derivan de la apelacion al propio interes del individuo en comportarse de manera justa, mientras que el segundo enfoque no queda restringido por la exigencia de que cada uno este convencido de que ser justo es ventajoso para el. Con la exposicion y el analisis critico de los fundamentos de estas dos teorias, Brian Barry amplia sustancialmente el debate sobre la justicia social que comenzo a revolucionar el pensamiento juridico desde la aparicion de la Teoria de la justicia, de John Rawls.

In the past twenty years, social injustice has increased enormously in Britain and the United States, regardless of the party in power. At the same time, the idea of social justice itself has been subverted, as the mantras of personal responsibility and equal opportunity have been employed as an excuse for doing nothing about the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many and for making ever harsher demands on the poor and vulnerable. With grace and wit, Brian Barry exposes the shoddy logic and distortion of reality that underpins this ideology. Once we understand the role of the social structure in limiting options, we have to recognize that really putting into practice ideas such as equal opportunity and personal responsibility would require a fundamental transformation of almost all existing institutions. Barry argues that only if inequalities of wealth and income are kept within a narrow range can equal prospects for education, health and autonomy be realized. He proposes a number of policies to achieve a more equal society and argues that they are economically feasible. But are they politically possible? The apparent stability of the status quo is delusory, he responds: radical changes in our way of life are unavoidable. Whether these changes are for better or for worse depends partly on the availability of a coherent set of principles and a programme flowing from them that is capable of mobilizing the growing discontent with business as usual. That is, ultimately, why social justice matters.