Passcode: 12345

Democracy means that political power is authorized and controlled by the people over whom it is exercised, and this in such a way as to give these persons roughly equal political influence. In many nominally democratic societies, domestic economic inequality enables the rich to exert outsized political influence, corrupting all stages of political reporting, discussion, deliberation, and decision making. For many of the world's poorer countries, this problem is compounded by global inequality, by the political pressures and influence that vastly richer foreigners (governments, multinationals, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs) seek to exert in their domestic politics. Such foreign pressures and influence distort and subvert the institutions, practices and ethos essential for a healthy democracy and they also extract national wealth, thereby greatly impeding economic and social development especially in resource-rich lower-income countries.

Professor Thomas Pogge is Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs and founding Director of the Yale Global Justice Program, Yale University. He received his PhD in philosophy from Harvard University, and is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science. He is also a co-founder of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), an international network aiming to enhance the impact of scholars, teachers and students on global poverty. His publications include; Designing in Ethics, co-edited (Cambridge 2017); Global Tax Fairness, co-edited, (Oxford 2016); Politics as Usual, (Polity 2010); World Poverty and Human Rights, 2nd edition, (Polity 2008); Global Justice and Global Ethics, co-edited, (Paragon House 2008); John Rawls: His Life and Theory of Justice, (Oxford 2007); and Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right, edited, (Oxford & UNESCO 2007). More information at https://campuspress.yale.edu/thomaspogge/

Passcode: 12345

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