uman Rights as Participatory Entitlements within a Global Democratic System

This essay aims to provide the core argument underpinning a consistent vision of human rights, i.e. a global democratic system based on all-inclusive participation. A reworked consequentialist argument on individual well-being is presented that, in view of the epistemological constraints pertaining to interpersonal comparisons of utility, concentrates instead on the core ideals of freedom of choice and control over the political system. On this basis, a non-exclusionary cosmopolitan conception of global justice is outlined, grounded on a double universal entitlement concerning the guarantee of vital interests and political participation. This set of rights represents the procedural backbone of a global democratic system. From Plato’s Republic to Rawls’s Theory of Justice, political theory has always been characterised by a predominant consideration of the domestic sphere of socio-political interaction. This stubborn concentration on the individual and domestic domains of justice has perhaps contributed to the reluctance of political thinking to address inter-communit