Economic and Social Justice: Domestic and International Perspectives

Subject	Economic and Social Justice: Domestic and International Perspectives
Semester	3rd semester (autumn)
Type	Elective
ECTS	6 ECTS
Study programme:	Business studies (Master)
Primary language:	Slovene

Introduction
This is an elective course in the Masters’ program. It examines the leading intellectual strands and dilemmas on the topic of economic and social justice in a free and democratic society. The language of the course is Slovene.
 
Prerequisites
Proficiency in Slovene and basic understanding/reading knowledge of English (most literature is in English) are required. There are, however, no prior course prerequisites; the course aims to be taught in a way accessible to students of any background.

Goals

• To become familiar with, and understand, the major intellectual strands in the field of economic and social justice.
• To critically assess the classical contributions of the strand’s leading representatives, and to fairly confront their clashing arguments.
• To understand and assess the significance of these intellectual currents to politics both in the domestic and international contexts.
• To understand and assess the impact these intellectual currents exert on concrete decision-making by the higher (constitutional and supreme) courts in this area both at home and abroad.
• Equipped with such examinations, to start constructing one’s own vision on this topic that is as coherent and persuasive as one ideally could make it.

Competence

• To develop the capacity of critical thinking and assessment of the leading works and theories in this field.
• To develop the constructive capacity of creating one’s own coherent vision based on such critical examinations.
• To generate the development of one’s own insights into the impact these strands exert on domestic and international politics.
• To generate the development of one’s own insights into the impact these strands exert on the decision/making processes of higher (constitutional and supreme) courts in the domestic and international context.
• To develop insights into how one could possible contribute his or her own part to the just development and improvement in this field.

Outcome
By the end of the course (by the time of a successful completion of the exam), students will acquire detailed knowledge on the main intellectual strands of this field, on the contributions of their leading intellectual representatives, and on the strengths and weaknesses of each of the strands. The method of the course will at the same time push students, as citizens, in the direction of developing their own sovereign – autonomous – thinking, thus helping construct and shape their own visions and contributions in this important field.
 
Course Content

• History (Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Kuznets)
• Capital in the 21th century (Piketty)
• Why (not) socialism? (Cohen)
• Why (not) capitalism? (Brennan)
• Classical liberalism improved (Hayek)
• Libertarianism (Nozick)
• Marxism (Marx)
• Egalitarian Liberalism (Rawls)
• Between libertarians and egalitarians? (Tomasi)
• Teleological boundaries of markets (Anderson, Andre)
• Slovenian perspectives: the look from the outside (Kremžar)
• Slovenian perspectives: the internal perspective
• Visions of economic and social justice and the politics
• Visions of economic and social justice and the constitution
• The impact on the jurisprudence of the US Supreme Court
• The impact on the jurisprudence of the German Bundesfervassungsgericht
• The impact on the jurisprudence of the Slovenian Constitutional Court
• Constructing one’s own vision
• How to make a difference?

Examination

• Participation (50%) short final essay as the end of the course (50%).

Course literature:

• Course book (with the works from the leading representatives of the strands)
• Additional literature:
  • G. A. Cohen, Why Not Socialism? Princeton University Press (2009)
  • Jason Brennan, Why Not Capitalism? Routledge (2014)
  • F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom. University of Chicago Press (1994)
  • Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Basic Books (1974)
  • John Rawls, Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press (1999)
• The leading case law by the US Supreme Court, German Bundesverfassungsgericht and the Slovenian Constitutional Court on the topic of economic and social rights.

Office hours:

• Before and after lectures
• By appointment