O Princípio da Assistência e a Justiça Global : uma análise a partir da obra O Direito dos Povos, de John Rawls

Abstract

PROBLEMATIC: The problematic of this article comprises the analysis of the Rawlsian proposal of justice for a Society of Peoples and the author's concern in ensuring stability and the minimum of social justice within societies, considering that the work The Law of Peoples has its scope limited to the political sphere, supported by elements that make up the Rawlsian social ideal, presupposed initially in A Theory of Justice. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the Principle of Assistance for the Law of Peoples as an element of the project of justice that pervades the author's entire work and that gains specific contours in A Society of Peoples. To demonstrate that the Duty of Assistance among Peoples is part of the Rawlsian social ideal thought in his three main texts, that is, the search for a complete conception of justice that requires a basic structure and just social institutions, principles of social justice and the purpose of cooperation. METHODOLOGY: The research uses the hypothetical-deductive approach, centered on bibliographic research of works of political philosophy, with specific study of the theory of justice articulated by John Rawls, as well as the elements present in the Rawlsian project of justice for national societies and resumed in the proposal of social justice among peoples. RESULT: The Duty of Assistance, as a new element introduced in the latest version of The Law of Peoples, demonstrates, once again, Rawls' commitment to the stability of institutions, to political justice in societies, which, if not liberal, are at least decent, and, finally, to the guarantee of freedom and equality for all societies. This highlights the two main ideas of The Law of Peoples exposed in the opening of the work: 1) the great evils of humanity arise from political injustice; and 2) the elimination of these evils only occurs through just or decent social policies and equally just or decent social institutions, which would guarantee stability and justice for the Society of Peoples. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that both the principle requiring the observance of human rights and the principle of Assistance have political goals and are intertwined in the proposal of political justice thought for the Peoples' Society. The first, with the intention of promoting peace and stability, avoids choosing rights of essentially liberal content and discussions with specific conceptions of good; the second having as objective the legitimacy of societies from a basic structure and fair institutions and the idea of cooperation, aims at a dignified life founded on freedom and equality, part of the Rawlsian social ideal.