Reset-Dialogues is pleased to publish this essay by Michael Walzer, Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, drawn from a lecture held during the series of conferences "For an inclusive citizenship", held in Milan at the Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli between autumn 2013 and spring 2014. Among other speakers, the conferences have hosted Giuliano Amato, Rainer Bauböck, Richard Bernstein, Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Nilüfer Göle, Susan Mendus and Alain Touraine.