The notion of a decent people plays a key role in Rawls’s views about international affairs. One central part of Rawls’s project in The Law of Peoples is to determine the appropriate boundaries, extent, and nature of liberal toleration in shaping liberal foreign policy. A decent people or society is a theoretical construct that assists in understanding what liberal tolerance requires in the international sphere.

If we are aiming at peaceful coexistence and cooperation in the international realm, what kinds of societies must liberals tolerate? Are there any kinds of nonliberal societies which can be admitted as societies of good standing in the international community? Under what conditions, if any, may liberals defensibly decide not to tolerate certain regimes? In a world illed with much diversity, what kinds of peoples should we consider as legitimate, indeed perhaps as allies, in securing a peaceful world order? And are there some actions that are so repugnant that they might warrant coercive intervention? In order to answer such questions, Rawls introduces the theoretical construct of a people who are nonliberal and yet sufficiently committed to certain ideals that they can be accorded recognitional legitimacy and equal standing in international affairs. These are decent peoples.