Towards a Deparochial Framework of Global Justice

This chapter attempts to deal with and address the problem of parochialism in the global justice/poverty debate. It charts the broader terrain of parochialism in global justice by navigating through three crucial analytical strata where the parochial threads can be discerned and addressed—epistemic, conceptual and descriptive. The chapter highlights the methodological indispensability of “deparochialisation” in global justice in order to purge parochial elements from its mainstream theoretical formulations. It appraises the “withdrawal approaches” to global justice that oppose the application of established theoretical frameworks to non-Western settings. In particular, it presents, analyses and assesses Aakash Singh Rathore’s “Pratyaharic withdrawal” as a counterpoint to the deparochial method in global justice. This method prioritises local sensitivities over global perspectives and advocates complete intellectual disembarkment from the global justice/poverty debate. The remainder of this chapter problematises Rathore’s reading of Sen’s deparochialisation (The Idea of Justice) and offers some critical clarifications on Sen’s approach to the problem of global justice. Drawing upon the Senian approach, the chapter contends that a plausible route to realising deparochial endeavour in global justice necessitates a pursuit of “critical departure” rather than outright “withdrawal” from its mainstream theorisations. This constructive approach provides a pathway to deparochialise the restrictive view of duties in Thomas Pogge’s Cosmopolitan theory, highlights the agency and thus the culpability of the superrich in enabling or benefiting from the structures of poverty in the developing world.