The Struggle for a Decent Politics: On Liberal as an Adjective -- Michael Walzer, Hardcover

A testament to what it means to be liberal by one of the most prominent political philosophers of our era

There was a time when liberalism was an ism like any other, but that time, writes Michael Walzer, is gone. "Liberal" now conveys not a specific ideology but a moral stance, so the word is best conceived not as a noun but as an adjective--one is a "liberal democrat" or a "liberal nationalist." Walzer itemizes the characteristics described by "liberal" in an inventory of his own deepest political and moral commitments--among other things, to the principle of equality, to the rule of law, and to a pluralism that is both political and cultural. Unabashedly asserting that liberalism comprises a universal set of values ("they must be universal," he writes, "since they are under assault around the world"), Walzer reminds us in this inspiring book why those values are worth fighting for.

Author: Michael Walzer
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 01/17/2023
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
ISBN: 9780300267235

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 11/15/2022