Regime Change and Just War

Allied policy at the end of the Second World War reminds us that regime change can be justified in the aftermath of a just war. Michael Walzer argues that a more indirect approach to regime change can also be justified before (and instead of) a just war—indeed, the success of this approach would render war unnecessary and therefore unjust. And if we commit ourselves to that indirection, if we commit ourselves to the forceful containment of brutal regimes, to collective security, we may find that we can reach justice without the terrible destructiveness of war.