Thoughts on Kazanistan

In this paper I revisit Rawls's claim that "Kazanistan" merits recognition and respect from liberal democratic peoples within a society of peoples governed by a just law of peoples. I argue that most, including my, previously articulated reasons for thinking Kazanistan merits this status have missed the structure and force of Rawls's thinking. I try to unpack this thinking, which draws on Hart, Fuller and Soper to deliver a public empirical understanding of when law merits respect simply qua law.