Liberal justice and the political economy of children's well-being

This paper addresses the question of whether liberal democracies have any collective interests in the well-being of children. After critiquing approaches to concern for children's well-being, such as William Galston's, that attend more to the state's interests than to children's own interests, the paper discusses contemporary approaches to understanding justice with respect to children. In particular, it draws on Ian Shapiro's and Martha Nussbaum's work to develop a description of the basic conditions that are required for children to be treated with justice; that is, as ends rather than as means. It then utilizes this approach to discuss the conditions of children in the contemporary US with respect to basic material needs, as evidenced by the number of children who live in poverty. It concludes by arguing both for changes in public policy that reflect the interests of children, as well as for a different discourse regarding child poverty in order to reformulate public policy with respect to basic justice for all children.