UC Berkeley

This dissertation provides an account of the historical development of the political thought of Michael Walzer from the 1950s to the present day. It situates Walzer within an American tradition of social democratic thought and argues that only when he is so situated can his thought be understood fully. Walzer's engagement with that tradition, most notably through his work on Dissent magazine, has structured how he has responded to many of the major developments in political life over the course of his career, including the decline of movement politics, the rise of neoliberalism, the recent waves of immigration to the USA, and the increased salience of civil society following the demise of the Soviet Union.

Understanding Walzer in this way recovers the egalitarian aspirations of his theory, which are lost in those academic accounts that are inspired by analytic philosophy. Particularly in the analysis of liberal political theorists, Walzer's commitment to interpreting the shared understandings of the communities of which he is a part is seen as sitting uncomfortably with his social democracy. The dissertation argues that when Walzer's conception of equality is taken seriously, the path of interpretation is closely allied to it. If we wish to instantiate equality in political practice, rather than refining the philosophical concept ever more closely, we have no choice but to take seriously the interests, desires, and passions of citizens and of citizen-activists. That is why his conception of equality, which is more sociologically robust than the dominant liberal alternative, has more chance of being appropriated by radical movements.

In the dissertation, consideration is also given to Walzer's just war theory, to the impact of his Judaism on his thought, and to the relationship between these things and his continued adherence to a version of democratic socialism.