The interactionist core to the preview’s treatment of justice resonates strongly with my sociological research, ranging from global lawmaking interactions inside international organizations to everyday relations among defendants, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, police in China’s justice system and its other systems of coercive control.
- while the preview emphasis on first-order justice makes good sense, and relates to my work on transnational legal orders, and international human rights, the nitty-gritty of second-order justice, e.g., of protecting basic legal freedoms, holding a justice system accountable by a vigilant civil society, ensuring rule of law protected by a moderate state, is a persistent battleground in comparative and historical conflicts over the prospects of an open legal-political society. I’d welcome reflections on what it takes to create theologically sound institutions of second-order justice.
- In the making of laws for the world, I am keen to be armed with justice principles that international organization (IO) scholars can apply to the actors who make the rules in global governance, how they are made, and with what impact. Not least, how does global governance act justly, especially in relation to weak actors, such as peripheral and fragile states and peoples, in a global world?