The Moral Standing of States: A Response to Four Critics
Author(s)
Walzer, Michael
Abstract
Here Walzer responds to a set of criticisms that his book, Just and Unjust Wars, is ultimately statist in character. He argues that the criticisms rest on significant philosophical disagreement about the nature of political life. One of the main issues under contention is the doctrine of non-intervention. While Walzer agrees that his argument should be amended, he stands by the notion that the state is the arena within which self-determination is carried out and from which foreign armies have to be excluded. He argues that his subject is not the state, but the political community that underlies it.
