Michael Walzer

Michael Laban Walzer (/ˈwɔːlzər/; born March 3, 1935) is an American political theorist and intellectual. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). He is editor emeritus of the left-wing magazine Dissent.

Michael Walzer
Walzer in 2002
Born	Michael Laban Walzer (1935-03-03) March 3, 1935 (age 90) New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Judith Borodovko ​ (m. 1956)​
Academic background
Alma mater	Brandeis University Harvard University
Thesis	The Revolution of the Saints
Doctoral advisor	Samuel Beer
Influences	Isaiah Berlin Charles Taylor Albert Camus Karl Marx John Rawls Niccolò Machiavelli
Academic work
Discipline	Philosophy political studies
Sub-discipline	Political philosophy ethics
School or tradition	Analytic philosophy communitarianism socialism[1]
Institutions	Institute for Advanced Study
Main interests	Human rights political ethics just war theory liberalism value pluralism social criticism internationalism
Notable works	Just and Unjust Wars (1977) Spheres of Justice (1983) Interpretation and Social Criticism (1987)
Notable ideas	Dirty hands complex equality
Influenced	Michael Sandel Jean Bethke Elshtain Amy Gutmann Michael W. Doyle Ian Shapiro Axel Honneth Rainer Forst

Written works

He has written books and essays on a many topics in politics, such as about Zionism, antisemitism, economic justice, social justice and radicalism. He is also a contributing editor to The New Republic.

Waltzer has written 27 books and published over 300 articles, essays, and book reviews in Dissent, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harpers, Quillette, and many philosophical and political science journals.^[2][3]

Personal life

Walzer was born to a Jewish family^[4] on March 3, 1935. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1956. He then studied at the University of Cambridge and at Harvard University.^[2]

In 1956, Walzer married Judith Borodovko. They have two daughters. Walzer is the older brother of historian Judith Walzer Leavitt.