Michael Walzer

Michael Walzer is an American political philosopher, long associated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and with the journal Dissent. His Just and Unjust Wars gave a modern restatement of just war theory, grounded in historical cases. He is also known for the problem of 'dirty hands' in politics and for Spheres of Justice, which argues that different social goods are governed by different distributive principles.

Key ideas

• The 'war convention' binds all combatants, whatever the justice of their cause: soldiers on both sides are moral equals.
• Supreme emergency: when a political community faces imminent and catastrophic threat, the rule against attacking non-combatants may be overridden, though the act remains a wrong.
• Political leaders can face situations where acting rightly requires them to get their hands dirty.
• Complex equality: money, office, honour and other goods each have their own sphere and should not dominate the others.

Major works

• Political Action: The Problem of Dirty Hands (1973)
• Just and Unjust Wars (1977)
• Spheres of Justice (1983)
• Arguing about War (2004)

In the conversation

• Question What is the difference between jus ad bellum and jus in bello, and why keep them apart? Fajar Nugroho · 4 replies
• Debate Anscombe was right: no emergency makes it permissible to target civilians deliberately Aoife Kilbride · 6 replies