ABSTRACT
From its emergence in the 1970s, global justice theory has matured into a prominent field in contemporary political philosophy, populating a host of academic publications, department syllabi, and research programmes. Indeed, political theory today is now replete with all manner of arguments on global wealth distribution, international trade, the world environment, migration policy, and even the global arms trade. Yet despite its initially progressive appearance, much of this scholarship fails to adequately address what is perhaps the definitive instance of injustice on a global scale, namely imperialism. The imperial power relations that emerged during the age of European empire, and which continue to shape the present global order, should arguably be a central problematic in discussions of the ethics of a global economy. 1
