Aspirations for greater international solidarity must be grounded in transnational movements that have sufficient presence in particular states to compel these polities to adopt foreign economic and diplomatic policies that enhance global labor, environmental, and human rights conditions.

Just as the moral horizons of democratic polities have expanded only through the struggles of formerly excluded social groups, so will the transition from national to regional to international solidarity occur more through political contestation than by means of abstract philosophical argument.

First World citizens are more likely to support policies that will enhance global justice when motivated by enlightened self-interest than by altruism. Philosophical arguments can inform the ideology of movements for social justice; but it will be the particular politics of democratic polities that determine whether a more equitable world emerges.

MDG Report 2008

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