From Utopia to Kazanistan: John Rawls and the Law of Peoples

Abstract

J. Rawls, ‘The Law of Peoples’. The book is an account of political justice to govern relations between societies, not all of which are liberal. This review delineates its basic principles and discusses in detail Rawls’s view that the primary subjects of international justice are ‘peoples’ (rather than states or individuals), his human rights minimalism as reflected in his idealised Islamic people of Kazanistan, and the avoidance of ethnocentrism. It gives reasons why we need not acquiesce in Rawls’s council of despair that his Kazanistan is ’the best we can realistically - and coherently - hope for’. (Quotes from original text)