John Rawls (1921-2002) was a pioneering scholar in liberal political theory. Rawls became widely recognized for his work concerning justice and moral politics, which he used in his later book "The Law of the Peoples" to describe a system of liberal international politics. The basis for these ideas comes from his theory of justice as fairness, where citizens share equal rights and cooperate in an egalitarian economy, and his theory of political liberalism, where solidarity is achievable in a democratic government despite ideological diversity. In applying these ideas to international relations, Rawls comes up with eight principles that would allow for the best ordering of the international system:
- Peoples are free and independent and must recognize this in all other peoples.
- Peoples are to observe treaties and mutual undertakings with others.
- Peoples are equal.
- Peoples are to refrain from intervening in the affairs of others, except in the case of grave human rights violations.
- Peoples have no right to war other than self defense.
- Peoples must honor human rights.
- Peoples are to follow a certain set of rules during war.
- Peoples should assist other peoples that exist in suboptimal conditions.