ABSTRACT
This book explains Walzer's justification of war by unpacking his understanding of morality by critically engaged with Walzer's depictions of morality, community and ethical responsibility. It provides an account of Walzer's overarching philosophical and political project, thereby providing a platform to elucidate an alternative understanding of what it means to act ethically in times of war. Walzer believes that ethics emerge from the stable boundaries of self-determining subjects. The understanding of ethics is important to Walzer's justification of war because violence is justified only when it is necessary to protect the self-determining communal subject. Walzer maintains that self-determination is the primary condition necessary for communities to produce their own unique articulation of society-their maximal world. For Walzer, membership defines that properly engage in the construction of a community's common life: 'The theory of distributive justice begins, with an account of membership rights'. He describes minimalism as a form of temporal revelation: minimal values are recognized within specific politically charged contexts.
