Collective Decisions on Need-Based Distribution: A Political Science Perspective

In this chapter, we present the main areas of empirical research and theoretical thought in political science related to need-based distributive justice. From the perspective of positive political research, we discuss how need is conceptualized as a motive for political action in the theory of post-materialism, how different strands of political economy study processes of need-based redistribution in democratic states, and how studies on poverty reduction constitute the starting point for the use of the ‘need’-terminology. Furthermore, a closer look at several fields of public policy shows how need functions as a central category in empirical decision-making processes. From the perspective of normative political theory, we show how need is conceptualized as a contested concept in political discourse, how it served as a core idea in justifications of the welfare state in the 1980s and early 1990s, and why the idea of “basic human needs” became a core maxim in international politics in the 1970’s and was later replaced by the concept of capabilities. Finally, we demonstrate how the concept of need continues to play an important role in the literature on global justice.