Michael Walzer

As part of a three episode series which aims to help improve understanding of liberalism, host Justin Kempf speaks with Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science. The podcast touches on Walzer's newest book, The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On Liberal as an Adjective.

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"No one doubts that leaving, refusing to fight against Ukraine, is a good thing, a commendable act, but is it morally obligatory?"

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"'A conqueror,' wrote the military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, 'is always a lover of peace. He would like to make his entry into our state unopposed; in order to prevent this, we must choose to fight.' The crime of aggression is to force men and women to make that choice."

By Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science:

"Condemnation has mostly been based on an entirely correct reading of international law. The Russian war is an unprovoked attack on a neighbor, an independent and sovereign state. It is clearly illegal. It is also, and this is more important, unjust."

"Walzer is acutely aware that will and competency alone are not enough to lead to success. In Political Action he preaches a gospel of realism—if you don’t win, try a different approach (like moving into electoral politics) or disband your effort...

On Thursday, April 11, Labyrinth Books will host a discussion of Political Action: A Practical Guide to Movement Politics by Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School of Social Science.

Recently reissued by New York Review Books, Political...

Writing for the Washington Post, CNN's Fareed Zakaria examines the crisis in Venezuela and argues for active support from American Democrats, borrowing insights from A Foreign Policy for the Left by Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus in the School...