Arguing about war

225 Pages·2005·0.866 MB·English

by  Walzer, Michael

ARGUING ABOUT WAR

Michael
Walzer
ARGUING
about
WAR
Yale University Press ≤ New Haven & London
Published with assistance from the Kingsley Trust
Association Publication Fund established by the
Scroll and Key Society of Yale College.
Copyright ∫ 2004 by Michael Walzer. All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part,
including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright
Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without
written permission from the publishers.
Designed by Nancy Ovedovitz and set in Janson Oldstyle
type by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Printed in the United
States of America by R. R. Donnelley, Harrisonburg,
Virginia
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walzer, Michael.
Arguing about war / Michael Walzer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-300-10365-4
1. War. 2. Just war doctrine. 3. Intervention (International
law). 4. World politics—1989–. I. Title.
U21.2.W34497 2004
172%.42—dc22 2003067409
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council
on Library Resources.
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
For JBW, always

CONTENTS
Introduction ix
PA R T O N E ¥ T H E O R Y
1 The Triumph of Just War Theory
(and the Dangers of Success) 3
2 Two Kinds of Military Responsibility 23
3 Emergency Ethics 33
4 Terrorism: A Critique of Excuses 51
5 The Politics of Rescue 67
PA R T T W O ¥ C A S E S
6 Justice and Injustice in the Gulf War 85
7 Kosovo 99
8 The Intifada and the Green Line 104
9 The Four Wars of Israel/Palestine 113
10 After 9/11: Five Questions About Terrorism 130
11 Five on Iraq 143
Inspectors Yes, War No
The Right Way
What a Little War Could Do
So, Is This a Just War?
Just and Unjust Occupations
CONTENTS
PA R T T H R E E ¥ F U T U R E S
12 Governing the Globe 171
Acknowledgments 193
Notes 197
Credits 201
Index 203
viii
INTRODUCTION
Clausewitz’s famous line, that war is the continuation of politics
by other means, was probably meant to be provocative, but it
seems to me obviously true. And the claim is equally obvious the
other way around: politics is the continuation of war by other
means. It is very important, however, that the means are dif-
ferent. Politics is a form of peaceful contention, and war is orga-
nized violence. All the participants, all the activists and militants,
survive a political defeat (unless the victor is a tyrant, at war with
his own people), whereas many participants, soldiers and civilians
alike, do not survive a military defeat—or a victory either. War
kills, and that is why the argument about war is so intense.
The theory of just war, which I defended in Just and Unjust
Wars (1977) and which is further developed and applied in the
essays collected here, is, first of all, an argument about the moral
standing of warfare as a human activity. The argument is twofold:
that war is sometimes justifiable and that the conduct of war is
always subject to moral criticism. The first of these propositions
is denied by pacifists, who believe that war is a criminal act; and
the second is denied by realists, for whom ‘‘all’s fair in love and
war’’: inter arma silent leges (in time of war, the laws are silent). So
just war theorists set themselves in opposition to pacifists and
realists, of whom there are a great number, although some of the
pacifists are selective in their opposition to war and some of the
realists have been heard, in the heat of battle, to express moral
sentiments.
But just war theory is not only an argument about war in
ix