Harrison Smith writes:

Amitai Etzioni, an American Israeli sociologist who served as a senior policy adviser to the Carter White House, taught at George Washington University and championed the virtues of bedrock institutions — family, school, local government — while promoting the philosophy known as communitarianism, died May 31 at his home in Washington. He was 94….

Dr. Etzioni, a German-born Jew who fled the Holocaust, fought for Israeli independence and launched his academic career in the United States, was a wide-ranging intellectual with a soft voice that belied his bustling energy….

But he became best known as the chief spokesman (or “guru,” as some journalists called him) for communitarianism, a centrist philosophy that earned him an audience in the 1990s with leaders including President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

As formulated by Dr. Etzioni, the philosophy was somewhere between the political left and right, combining a liberal emphasis on social justice with a conservative belief in personal responsibility. It aimed to maintain and repair society and its institutions, just as environmentalism sought to safeguard the natural world….

Robert D. McFadden writes:

“Strong rights presume strong responsibilities,” Mr. Etzioni told The New York Times in 1992, not long after issuing a “Communitarian Platform” signed by educators, economists, political leaders and feminists….

It called the family a “moral anchor” of society, and suggested extended child-care and parental leave benefits, flexible working hours and tougher divorce laws. It proposed more self-discipline and checks on misbehavior; national service for young people, wider participation in jury duty and military service; and an emphasis on orderly conduct enforced by the police….

Mr. Etzioni wrote for The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications. He founded the Communitarian Network and its magazine, The Responsive Community. In 1995, he became president of the American Sociological Association….

He became a senior adviser to President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and in 1980 joined George Washington University, where he continued to write and teach international affairs for more than 30 years, becoming director of its Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies.

He wrote more than 30 books, including “The Active Society” (1968), “The Spirit of Community: The Reinvention of American Society” (1993), “My Brother’s Keeper: A Memoir and a Message” (2003), “How Patriotic is the Patriot Act: Freedom Versus Security in the Age of Terrorism” (2004) and “Reclaiming Patriotism” (2019).