Diacritica 25-2_Filosofia.indb - cehum - Universidade do Minho

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MARIA JOÃO CABRITA
members of a well-ordered Society of Peoples. Ultimately, the duty of assistance
illustrates the essential aspects of what Rawls calls “a healthy social
policy in the way of a utopia” (see Idem, 124ss), namely: religious freedom,
freedom of conscience and politics, constitutional rights and equality for
women. By appropriating these aspects, the political culture of a people
creates a society which is socially and economically more egalitarian and
politically more democratic.
Th e way in which the Society of Peoples moves to achieve liberty and
equality among societies - which is a target both of the rules for the just
conduct of war and of the duty of assistance - requires an affi nity between
peoples, an empathy fermented by a growing cooperation between them
under the auspices of international political and social institutions. In
this sense, the possibility of generalized peace implies the cultivation of
the mutual interest of peoples for diff erent lifestyles and cultures and the
capacity to sacrifi ce for others when circumstances so require; and not the
imposition of the values and practices of Western democracy. Even though
it is historically proven to be the most suitable political path to peace, liberal
democracy results from its own social atmosphere, whose development
process involves insurmountable steps. Consequently, one cannot require
of societies to accelerate their pace, whether they are at the beginning, in
the middle, or at the end of this process. And this does not undermine the
hope in the propagation of peace, but rather gives it meaning as an ideal to
pursue.
Bibliography:
Aron, Raymond (1962), Paz e Guerra entre as Nações, trad. Sérgio Bath (2002), S. Paulo,
Editora Universal de Brasília.
Archibugi, Daniele (1995), “Immanuel Kant, Cosmopolitan Law and Peace”, in European
Journal of International Relations, 1 (4), pp. 429-456.
Audard, Catherine (2006a), “Cultural Imperialism and “Democratic Peace””, in Rex
Martin and David Reidy (ed.) (2006), Rawls’s Law of Peoples: A Realistic Utopia,
Oxford, Blackwell Publishing, pp. 59-75.
–––– (2006b), “Peace or Justice? - Same remarks on Rawls’s Law of Peoples”, in Revue
Internationale de Philosophie, nº 237, pp. 301-326.
Beitz, Charles (1979), Political Th eory and International Relations, New Jersey, Princeton
University Press, 1999.
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