Effects of Democratic Citizenship on Pursuing Global Justice

From the perspective of the post-Soviet Georgia

Abstract

Throughout the world history one particular pattern is obvious that people in all nations desperately strive towards justice. What justice really means and what it entails can have many definitions and explanations ranging from liberty to equal distribution of opportunities, however it often can be also associated with such concepts as democracy, the rule of law and human rights. Although, significant progress have been made in this direction, notably abolishment of slavery, introduction of universal suffrage in most countries, alleviation of poverty, adoption of universal declaration of human rights, severe problems such as authoritarian regimes, conflicts, terrorism, inequality, environmental hazards, human trafficking, inadequate living standards and widespread poverty still largely persists and haunt us. Despite significant differences in attitudes towards global justice from country to country, based on its size, economic power and political influence across the globe, the above mentioned positive steps has been still made, yet plenty of problems still largely remain. Hence, it is interesting to find out how this progress has been achieved, was it global democratic process, economic development or something else. Looking from the perspective of the post-Soviet country such as Georgia, in this paper, firstly, I would like to explore what the concepts of global justice and democratic citizenship mean and how they can be related to each other. Secondly, I would like to find out what is the current state of democracy in Georgia and to what extent active political participation along with strong civil society can influence on pursuing justice not only domestically but also globally. Finally, I would like to examine what are those domestic and global factors that might inhibit the people's aspiration to global justice.