John Rawls: Towards a Just World Order

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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 law 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.

Reviews

." . . a very useful survey of Rawls's work, its unique selling point is that it gives due weight to the international dimension of Rawls's theory." -Contemporary Political Theory
." . . an important critique of Rawls's statism . . ." -Cambridge Review of International Affairs
." . . clear and thorough in reviewing the development of Rawls's thinking . . . International Relations specialists should read this book as a vigorous defence of cosmopolitanism." -Canadian Journal of Political Science
." . . very readable . . . makes a significant contribution to debates concerning universal human rights . . . recommended." -Choice

Author Bio

Patrick Hayden is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Director of Peace and Justice Studies at New England College. He has written on a wide range of topics in philosophy and political philosophy, is the author of Multiplicity and Becoming: The Pluralist Empiricism of Gilles Deleuze (1998) and the editor of Philosophical Perspectives on Law and Politics (1999) and The Philosophy of Human Rights.