Peace, Justice and International Order: A Conclusion

Abstract

With The Law of Peoples, Rawls has contributed to the discussion not only on the moral status of the diverse types of political regimes, but also to their foreign relations as they should be to enhance stable peace and justice in the international order. The project at hand hopes to have contributed to that debate by exploring, analysing, testing, defending and critiquing LP from within and beyond the Rawlsian framework. Recalling the course of this undertaking, Rawls’ ideal theorizing and his realistic utopian framework has been positioned within Rawls’ work and in relation to the real world. A profound analysis of central aspects of LP and Rawls’ terminology, specifically, the differentiation between peoples and states, as well as his typology of political regimes, functioned as a baseline for understanding and discussing LP. The applicability and value of Rawls’ theory to and for international relations were assessed. The problems and contributions of the principles of the Law of Peoples and the Society of Peoples were investigated. It was explored whether at least aspiring decent peoples exist, and discussed whether the democratic peace thesis could be enlarged to a decent peace thesis.