Walzer and Justice: Spheres of Justice in the 2020s

Michael Walzer's Spheres of Justice was a bombshell of a book in the field of political theory when it was published in 1983. Four decades later, Walzer's theory has become even more influential, not just because of its philosophical insights, but also because it helps us to think in practical ways about how to promote social justice in the modern world. Daniel A. Bell, Chair Professor of Political Theory, Faculty of Law, University of Hong Kong. By rereading Spheres of Justice forty years after its publication, the contributors to this volume demonstrate that social liberalism makes it possible to tackle epistemic conflicts over the idea of justice, a prerequisite for peace and the pursuit of a decent life. A timely and indispensable work. Bruno Perreau, Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. This book offers a collection of essays that reinterpret and reimagine Michael Walzer’s classic work Spheres of Justice as an important contribution to political theorizing about justice in the 2020s. It highlights the social-democratic nature of Walzer’s theory of justice as a significant aid to rethinking egalitarian politics today, as well as some of the deeper structural elements of the theory, such as Walzer’s interpretivism and pluralism. Contributors include several senior scholars who are among Walzer’s foremost and most long-standing interlocutors, as well as some of the younger scholars who have done important work in Walzer studies. The volume will stand alongside Palgrave Macmillan’s Walzer and War as a crucial companion to Walzer’s other major book, Just and Unjust Wars. J. Toby Reiner is Associate Professor of Political Theory at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA.