TJP

The Failure of Western Procedural Justice

By Byron A. Ellis-August 18, 2008

The phrase “territorial integrity” has become a rallying cry for Western leaders regarding the breakaway Georgian provinces. It is, however, ironic that the West did not use such a term for Kosovo when it declared independence from Serbia. The term was not used when the West invaded Iraq, nor when Israel invaded Lebanon or when it bombed Syria. So, why is territorial integrity applicable to Georgia and not to other nations?

Territorial integrity is applicable to Georgia because it is considered a friend of the West. Serbia, Iraq, Hezbollah’s Lebanon, and Palestine are not considered friends of the West, therefore territorial integrity in these regions are not relevant to Western leaders.

This Western worldview is inappropriate and, if not modified, will continue to produce adverse consequences. The West and the rest of the world should adhere to the concept of procedural justice.

Procedural justice is the fairness of the decision-making process. It involves adherence to the following rules of fairness: consistency, bias suppression, accuracy, representation, correctability, and ethicality. It is the notion that fair procedures guarantee fair outcomes.

Fair procedures are consistent. Therefore, if territorial integrity is a core value, then it should be applicable to all nations, friends and foe alike. Likewise, if the Russian invasion of Georgia is wrong, then so are the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and the West invasion of Iraq.

Judgmental procedures should be impartial. In other words, bias towards one side or the other should be suppressed. For instance, in the case of Georgia and the Russia, there should be a clear acknowledgement that Georgia precipitated the conflict. Likewise, that Russia’s response was excessive and inappropriate.

Procedural justice requires information accuracy and not spins. Spinning information may result in short term gains, but over time it diminishes credibility. Procedural justice also requires involvement of the affected parties in the decision-making process. That is, they should have voice and representation and they should not be demonized because they view of the world is different.

If we substitute Iraq for Georgia, when the administration argues in favor of Georgia’s territorial integrity, we see the hollowness and hypocrisy of their argument. It is this hypocrisy that has diminished U.S. credibility and moral standing.

Additionally, the tendency of Westerners to define others as evil is in itself demonic, because we are not the judge of our sisters and brothers. The judge is perfect and the only one that is good.

Procedural justice involves correctability. That is, there should be a procedure to tweaked the system back into balance. However, such a system can only exist if world powers refrain from encroaching on the sovereignty of nations. And, we can achieve this by establishing and agreeing to a few basic world rights such as freedom to worship, full rights for women, sovereignty of all nations, the elimination of weapons of mass destruction, free trade, the return of occupied territories or just compensation for them, and so on.

Finally procedural justice involves ethicality, which is a rule or habit of conduct with regard to right and wrong. When we compromise our ethics, it is difficult to ask others not to do likewise. For instance, when the West invades sovereign nations, encourages regions such as Kosovo to become independent, but then proceed to claim that other nations should respect sovereignty and should not seek independence, it demonstrates its convoluted ethics.

Clearly, the Western response to the conflict in Georgia is incongruous and hypocritical. And, it validates to the world the lack of procedural justice inherent in Western worldview, particularly toward the non-westerners.

Furthermore, listening and reading the Western press and politicians, one would conclude that Georgia is an innocent victim. Thus, both the Western press and leaders failed the procedural justice test.

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