John Rawls: Towards a Just World Order

Since the publication of A Theory of Justice in 1971, John Rawls has been viewed as one of the most important political theorists of the 20th century. In this book, Patrick Hayden presents an account of Rawls's views regarding the nature of social justice among states and the international and morality he considers necessary in order to secure universal human rights and political stability among individuals and states. Hayden begins by introducing Rawls's attempt to develop an account of international justice and human rights that is consistent with his earlier theory of justice as fairness. He offers a critical examination of Rawls's political philosophy and international thought and argues for a cosmospolitan variation on Rawls's law of peoples. In addition, he analyzes and evaluates Rawls's work and places it in the context of contemporary issues such as the universality and relativism debate, democratization, indigenous rights and the possibility of global peace.