There are varying conceptions of ‘justice’. Common to them all is
a formal idea of justice - the idea that inequalities of distribution
must be justified by an impartial and rational assessment of
‘relevant’ differences between the people involved. One key
theory of justice, based on Rawls’ ideas, translates this into the
idea of ‘justice as fairness’ with its equity overtones and need for
redistributive strategies. Other thinking, derived from welfare
economics, focuses on more ‘efficiency’ ideas of maximising
overall utility or welfare, such that no-one can be made better off
without someone else being worse off. In development thinking a
‘capability’ perspective of justice is common, based on the work of
Amartya Sen, i.e. the idea that people should have the
capabilities to survive and function and the freedom to pursue
well-being. This requires both aggregative and redistributive
considerations.