States as social entities: Re-examining the assumption of mutual disinterest in Rawls’ Law of Peoples
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Author | Amy E Eckert |
| DOI | 10.1177/1755088215571647 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium: Rethinking states in international politics |
Journal of International Political Theory
2015, Vol. 11(2) 224 –238
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/1755088215571647
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States as social entities: Re-
examining the assumption of
mutual disinterest in Rawls’
Law of Peoples
Amy E Eckert
Metropolitan State University of Denver, USA
Abstract
In The Law of Peoples, John Rawls modeled peoples as being independent and mutually
disinterested. This is an assumption that mirrors his treatment of individual persons in
the domestic context. This article argues that this assumption does not translate to the
international context. While individual persons do not require the existence of other
persons, states cannot exist independently of other states. Because statehood is a social
construct, states require the recognition (and the existence) of other states, and they
are incapable of being considered independently of the system and the other states that
populate the system. Drawing on aspects of the relational dimension of care ethics,
this article considers the implications of rejecting the assumption of independence and
mutual disinterest. Theorizing states as inherently connected to one another allows
the relationships and connections among them to come into the process of developing
principles of justice.
Keywords
Ethics of care, Law of Peoples, non-aggression, Rawls, recognition, states
The international system is often portrayed as a system that is adversarial in nature. This
sentiment finds its strongest expression in realism, which depicts the international system
as a zero-sum game in which one state can only gain at another’s expense. The ability to
realize gains in power and security only at the expense of other states places them,
Corresponding author:
Amy E Eckert, Department of Political Science, Metropolitan State University of Denver, Campus Box 43,
P.O. Box 173362, Denver, CO 80217-3362, USA.
Email: aeckert@gmail.com
571647IPT0010.1177/1755088215571647Journal of International Political TheoryEckert
research-article2015
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