On Compromise and Rotten Compromises [Paperback]

When is political compromise acceptable--and when is it fundamentally rotten, something we should never accept, come what may? What if a rotten compromise is politically necessary? Compromise is a great political virtue, especially for the sake of peace. But, as Avishai Margalit argues, there are moral limits to acceptable compromise even for peace. But just what are those limits? At what point does peace secured with compromise become unjust? Focusing attention on vitally important questions that have received surprisingly little attention, Margalit argues that we should be concerned not only with what makes a just war, but also with what kind of compromise allows for a just peace.

Examining a wide range of examples, including the Munich Agreement, the Yalta Conference, and Arab-Israeli peace negotiations, Margalit provides a searching examination of the nature of political compromise in its various forms. Combining philosophy, politics, and history, and written in a vivid and accessible style,On Compromise and Rotten Compromisesis full of surprising new insights about war, peace, justice, and sectarianism.

"Winner of the 2012 Philosophical Book Award, The Hannover Institute of Philosophical Research""Avishai Margalit, Winner of the 2012 Ernst-Bloch-Prize"Avishai Margalit's most recent book (with Ian Buruma) isOccidentalism: The West in the Eyes of Its Enemies(Penguin). His other books includeThe Ethics of MemoryandThe Decent Society. A professor emeritus of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Margalit is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. In a provocative book, Margalit--a professor emeritus of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the George F. Kennan Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton--claims that 'rotten compromises are not allowed, even for the sake of peace.' Focussing on the political rather than olÃâ