Global complexities and the rise of global justice movement: a new notion of justice?

This article discusses the notions of justice underlying the ideological discourses and political practices in the so-called ‘global justice movement’. It also attempts to contribute to a sociological explanation of these ideas in terms of broader structural changes at the global level. In developing such an explanation, the article employs the concept of ‘global complexities’. It is argued that the ‘complexity’ of current global social changes and inequalities has necessitated the emergence of a new notion of justice (accommodative justice) within the movement. In fact, this new concept of justice has emerged from many activists’ experiences of and reflections on the complexities of globalization. As an illustrative example of such conceptual transformations, ACT UP, a grassroots HIV/AIDS advocacy network, is examined. Attempts to understand and theorize the movement’s conceptions of global justice have strong and constructive implications for both theories of justice and theories of global social change