Abstract

Ever since its entrenching of a fundamentally political mission with the Harare Declaration in 1991, the relevance of the modern Commonwealth has been fiercely contested. Not only has its organisational purpose been questioned but its efficacy in delivering its democratic goals continues to be undermined as well. This article seeks to relocate the debate to within the spheres of political philosophy and normative international relations theory and argues that a defence of the Commonwealth can be found in John Rawls’ The Law of Peoples. This defence, however, is conditioned on, and accompanied with, a proposal for an open enlargement foreign policy which furthers the Commonwealth’s commitment to global justice.