Global Resources Dividend
Encyclopedia
Thomas Pogge
Thomas Winfried Menko Pogge is a German philosopher and is currently the Director of the Global Justice Program and Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs at Yale University...
. Under the scheme nations would pay a dividend (tax) on any resources that they use or sell, resulting in a sort of "tax on consumption". Pogge's scheme is motivated by the positive duty to alleviate poverty, but also on the negative responsibility of the rich not to use institutions that perpetuate economic inequality
Economic inequality
Economic inequality comprises all disparities in the distribution of economic assets and income. The term typically refers to inequality among individuals and groups within a society, but can also refer to inequality among countries. The issue of economic inequality is related to the ideas of...
. Pogge estimates that a dividend of just 1% could raise $300 billion each year; this would equal $250 for each individual in the worlds poorest quintile.
Implementing some version of the GRD entails not only discussions about practicality, but presumably, an affirmation of what is right. As Pogge puts it "Our task as philosophers requires that we try to imagine new, better political structures and different, better moral sentiments. We must be realistic, but not to the point of presenting to the parties in the original position
Original position
The original position is a hypothetical situation developed by American philosopher John Rawls as a thought experiment to replace the imagery of a savage state of nature of prior political philosophers like Thomas Hobbes. In it, the parties select principles that will determine the basic structure...
the essentials of the status quo as unalterable facts."
Rights of the disadvantaged
Pogge's main justification is that, even if the idea of GRD would be refined over time, and would be difficult to implement, it is nevertheless the right of those who are the worst off. The 1% dividend tax is not seen as a donation, but a responsibility.The idea of the GRD may be a natural extension of John Rawls
John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University....
' theory of justice
A Theory of Justice
A Theory of Justice is a book of political philosophy and ethics by John Rawls. It was originally published in 1971 and revised in both 1975 and 1999. In A Theory of Justice, Rawls attempts to solve the problem of distributive justice by utilising a variant of the familiar device of the social...
. Rawls himself does not think so, but Thomas Pogge does. To Pogge, the world order currently violates the first principle of justice (equal opportunity), as well as the second principle (equal access to offices, but also the idea that inequalities should favour the poorest individuals).
Under the scheme of a GRD, states do not have full property rights in the resources within their sovereign territory. Although the GRD allows states to use resources as they see fit, the scheme implies that the global poor have an 'inalienable stake in all scarce resources' (see implementation, below). Pogge argues that national borders are morally arbitrary in the first place, and are born from a history of coercion and violence. He sets these issues aside, however, and focuses on the following claim: any conception of global justice (even if we accept existing national borders as they are) must acknowledge international inequalities. Pogge thinks it becomes difficult to justify why a person born to rich parents in Canada should be entitled to so much more than one who is born to poor family in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...
. Equally difficult to justify might be the assumption that every person has a right to absolute control over the resources they happen to have within their borders.
Rawls thought that certain individuals may be permitted to various non-liberal views, provided they harmonize with a liberal government. Similarly, Pogge says that we may permit certain nations to operate according to hierarchical, non-liberal systems; but on a global scale, only systems that harmonize with a grander liberal philosophy can be tolerated. Liberals cannot avoid taking sides completely; they must reject totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
, for instance. This has implications for the validity of actions that might be taken to promote a GRD.
Implementing a GRD
Each nation or "peoples" would be given full freedom of what to do with their own resources. They would not be required to extract them, or allow others to extract them. If a people does decide to use a natural resource, they would pay a dividend. This includes oil, but also the various uses of reusable resources (e.g. polluting water). The dividend results in higher costs for natural resources, and thus amounts to a "tax on consumption".The funds garnered from the GRD would be spent by an international organization; a world government
World government
World government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
is not necessary. The organization would follow rules established by lawyers, economists, and other professionals from around the world. GRD payments would be used to provide basic rights to developing nations. Governments who collect the funds and invest them in luxuries for their elite would be completely or partially forbidden from receiving them. In such cases, funding NGOs may still be an important way of using the GRD to help the poor.
The lowest level of the dividend (1%) is still likely to have a big impact on international development goals (e.g. the Millennium Development Goals
Millennium Development Goals
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that all 193 United Nations member states and at least 23 international organizations have agreed to achieve by the year 2015...
). Supporters of the Global Resources Dividend argue that it would also have an environmental benefit by reducing demand for non-renewable energy sources.
Pogge imagines that there may be dissent between and within nations. Again, he does not think a world government is necessary. Those countries that fail to pay their required GRD could be taxed by all the other countries doing trade with it. If a majority of countries are paying their GRD, these taxes would help deter dissenters. The idea is that there would be added pressure on each country to enforce the gathering of GRD funds within its borders.
Primary products or 'raw materials' are often refined into more expensive secondary products. As such it can be argued that the GRD is applied too early in the manufacturing process and does not take account of the environmental costs of manufacturing products beyond the extraction of raw materials. As the GRD evolves over time, this could be one of many improvements.
Further reading
- Hayward, Tim (2008) On the Nature of Our Debt to the Global Poor, Journal of Social Philosophy, 39/1: 1-19