Justice as a Decolonial Process

Power struggles make up the fabric of human history, with conflict and the desired dominance of one society over another staining much of the past. In many ways, the contemporary global setting is representative of centuries of power struggles at the societal, international, and ideological level. Pursuits of power in the global community have long been accompanied by the exploitation and manipulation of societies for the benefit of an imperial power. Long before the categories of first, second, and third world countries were introduced to the international community as an organizational model for global order, the West had been positioned at the apex of international power dynamics. Largely maintained by the legacies of European colonialism, the modern power dynamics of the international community remain rooted in modern conceptions of Western superiority. Colonization, therefore, is an exercise in these power dynamics