An analysis of political liberalism and conceptions of political justice; toward a Kantian normative method for addressing issues of injustice

摘要

This work focuses on Rawlsian political liberalism using housing policy in post-apartheid South Africa as a case study. During the democratic transition in South Africa, the new administration’s attention to housing policy was negligent. There was a failure to address and rectify the systemic discrimination in spatial arrangement serving to further worsen the situation for the disadvantaged majority. This paper will provide an ideal conceptualization of moral theory in relation to housing policy in the context of post-apartheid South Africa. Following this, the paper will examine the nonideal evolution of housing policy in the aftermath of apartheid. Through a Rawlsian lens, this research asks the question: what can be learned from a comparative analysis of ideal theory and actual circumstance in a post-apartheid South Africa? To this end, this thesis seeks to deepen the connection between democratic obligation and moral theory and to develop a normative method of addressing issues of global injustice.