%0 Journal Article
%T Barry and £¿verland on doing, allowing, and enabling harm
%A Fiona Woollard
%J Ethics & Global Politics
%D 2019
%R https://doi.org/10.1080/16544951.2019.1568790
%X ABSTRACT In Responding to Global Poverty: Harm, Responsibility, and Agency, Christian Barry and Gerhard £¿verland address the two types of argument that have dominated discussion of the responsibilities of the affluent to respond to global poverty. The second type of argument appeals to ¡®contribution-based responsibilities¡¯: the affluent have a duty to do something about the plight of the global poor because they have contributed to that plight. Barry and £¿verland rightly recognize that to assess contribution-based responsibility for global poverty, we need to understand what it is for an agent to contribute to harm rather than merely failing to prevent it. Barry and £¿verland argue that we should replace the traditional bipartite distinction doing and allowing with a bipartite distinction between doing, allowing and enabling. I argue that their discussion represents a significant contribution to this debate. However, more detail on their key ideas of ¡®relevant action¡¯ and ¡®complete causal process¡¯ is needed. Moreover, in cases involving the removal of barriers, the non-need based claims of those involved matter. Abbreviations: DAD: doing/allowing distinction; DAED: doing/allowing/enabling distinctio
%U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16544951.2019.1568790