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Title: Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations by Michael Walzer ISBN: 0-465-03705-4 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: January, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Considering: the Problem of a Confiscated Democracy
Comment: The problem of just vs unjust war is an aspect of democracy that especially comes forth in its urgency at the present time.
This might then be the most important book for reading at this historical moment. Yet, it is only part of the trajectory of Walzer's concern with democracy vs the programmed decline or even death of democracy in countries where democracy seemed so basic to the self definition of nations. Interestingly enough LaMonde Diplomatique in an article entitled "A Quiet Totalitarianism" begins with reference to the writing of Michael Walzer. Why? Because Walzer is among the first to identify a crisis in liberal democracy in America, but also paradoxically precisely in those countries where certain other of the democratic practices were firs installed. His work throughout is like a beam of light the shows the transformation of the political, moral, and philosophical basis of democracy: we see the symptoms in the recent American presidential election, the changing intervention of the Supreme court but those who wish to guard democracy must read Walzer also to understand the changing, often hidden, but real shift in the social contract that is occuring.
Rating: 5
Summary: A classic in its field
Comment: This is an erudite work examining the philosophical subtelties and ethical issues that war evokes. Any one seriously interested in war, applied ethics, political philosophy, and international relations should be familiar with the arguments Walzer uses. The historical examples are standard dilemmas and problems which are useful in class discussions in philosophy as well as history. The only critique I have of the book (which I often use for my own philosophical writing) is that Walzer's ethical examination of war ends with nuclear war--in this I think he is wrong, we should not stop our analysis even with the nightmare scenario of a holocaust, for that is to give the moral hand over to those who would use nuclear arms. The book is challenging and insightful and deserves further reprints.
Rating: 5
Summary: Morality of Warfare
Comment: Michael Walzer's book is an in-depth look at the morality of war. It is not an easy read especially for the laymen. It helps if the reader has a good grounding in philosophy and understands the idea of "moral relativism". His book makes an in depth study of many facets of what takes place in warfare. The chapter that I found most interesting because it is in the news so much was on pre-emptive warfare. Walzer does believe that countries have the right to go to war pre-emotively but he does set the bar quite high. He believes a country must really be under eminent attack before it acts pre-emotively. He did believe that Israel acted justly in its pre-emptive attack against the Arabs in the 1967 war. He also defines terrorism as a criminal act and not a justifiable act of war. He makes a clear distinction between terrorism and guerilla warfare, deeming guerilla warfare a moral method of warfare.
I recommend this book for military, political professionals and for philosophers.
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Title: The Ethics of War and Peace by Terry Nardin ISBN: 0691058407 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 26 January, 1998 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power In a Violent World by Jean Bethke Elshtain ISBN: 0465019102 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 15 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: A Problem from Hell : America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power ISBN: 0060541644 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Political Theory and International Relations by Charles R. Beitz ISBN: 0691009155 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 July, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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Title: Duties Beyond Borders: On the Limits and Possibilities of Ethical International Politics by Stanley Hoffmann, Stanley Hoffman ISBN: 0815601689 Publisher: Syracuse University Press Pub. Date: June, 1981 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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