Morality and Political Violence

C.A.J. (Tony) Coady is an Australian philosopher with a deservedly distinguished local and international reputation. His book is the outcome of a long period of attention to the topics discussed under the general heading of the book’s title. The fourteen chapters of the book have their origins in fifteen articles or book chapters written for academic philosophers in the analytical tradition over a period of more than ten years. Rather than publish a series of essays on related topics the author has chosen to rewrite the essays so as to make clear the connections between them. The enterprise is many facetted as Tony Coady provides a range of useful distinctions in discussing matters such as terrorism, combatants and non-combatants, and the correct understandings of ‘aggression’ and ‘proportionality.’ In this review I concentrate on a thread which continues through the book, namely, Tony Coady’s critique of Michael Walzer.

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