ABSTRACT
Obstacles of an ideological and structural character complicate the pursuit of global justice during this early phase of globalization. At the same time, several developments associated with globalization are encouraging to those committed to the promotion of global justice. The most salient obstacles arise from the persisting fragmentation of the world in terms of sovereign territorial states, and the widespread acceptance of efficiency and competitiveness criteria as the basis for assessing economic performance. The most promising developments arise from the plausibility of conceiving the world as a unity and from the beginnings of a global civil society due to the efforts of transnational social forces.
