A Critique of John Rawls’ Theory of Justice and its Relevance to Nigerian Politics

Abstract

This article examines Rawls’ ‘Justice as Fairness’ with a view to finding out how relevant and adoptable Rawls’ theory is  in a plural country such as Nigeria and how best Rawls’ theory has been able to solve the problem of distributive theory  in Nigeria. Rawls in ‘A Theory of Justice’ attempts to solve the problem of distributive justice by utilizing a variant of the familiar device of the social contract. The resultant theory is known as ‘Justice as Fairness’, from which Rawls derives his  two principles of justice. Rawls, as considered in this study, attempts to answer questions such as: what are the just  distributive principles a typical human society ought to adopt? How should material and non-material resources be  distributed among self-interested individuals? What role (if any) does equality and priority play in the distribution of the  common good?