Former Books in Progress

The most prominent theory of distributive justice to have emerged since John Rawls’ justice as fairness is ‘luck egalitarianism’, which aims to accommodate considerations of individual responsibility within a theory of equality. The standard luck egalitarian view, ‘brute-luck egalitarianism’, allows the unequal consequences of option luck (the results of deliberate gambles) to stand while neutralizing the consequences of brute luck (the results of unchosen risk). Leaving Nothing to Chance will provide the first sustained elaboration and defence of a radical form of luck egalitarianism known as ‘all-luck egalitarianism’, which unlike brute-luck egalitarianism neutralizes the consequences of option luck as well as brute luck.

Chap 2 - 14h-14h45 - Jesse Tomalty (U. Bergen)
Chap 3 - 14h45-15h30 - Pierre-Etienne Vandamme (UCL)
Chap 4 - 15h30-16h15 - Colin Rowe (KULeuven) and Refia Kadayifci (UCL)

Chap 5 - 16h30-17h15 - Johan Olsthoorn (U. Amsterdam and KULeuven)
Chap 6 - 17h15-18h - Danielle Zwarthoed (UCL)

The project of the book is to defend a certain set of progressive political interventions as legitimate exercises of coercive political power. The interventions tackle the gendered division of labor, which is widely regarded as the core of gender injustice. The process of gender equalization in domestic and paid labor allocations, which began decades ago, is stalled. A growing number of scholars argue that, absent political intervention, further eroding of the gendered division of labor will not be forthcoming anytime soon. Certain political interventions to promote gender egalitarianism could jumpstart the stalled gender revolution, but critics regard such political interventions as illegitimate exercises of political power. These critics seem to have a point. The interventions in question would effectively subsidize gender egalitarian lifestyles at a cost to those who prefer to maintain a traditional gendered division of labor. In a pluralistic, liberal society where many citizens reasonably resist the feminist agenda, can scarce public resources be used to finance coercive interventions to subsidize gender egalitarianism? I argue that they can, even by the lights of a particularly demanding theory of liberal legitimacy.

The workshop will focus on four chapters of the manuscript.

14:00. Chapter 2: The Challenge of Liberal Legitimacy. Commentator: Eszter Kollar (KU Leuven).

14:55. Chapter 4: The Family and the Basic Structure. Commentator: Vincent Aubert (University of Namur)

16:00. Chapter 6: A Neutral Case for Autonomy Promotion. Commentator: Danielle Zwarthoed (UCLouvain)

16:55. Chapter 7: The Political Case for Gender Egalitarianism: A Stability Argument. Commentator: François Boucher (KU Leuven)

"Monetary policy has moved off the radar of normative discussion in recent decades. Institutionally, this situation is reflected in the doctrine of central bank independence. Monetary policy has come to be perceived as a technocratic exercise that is best left to a group of experts, whose mandate might be formulated by politicians, but who operate at arm’s length from the latter. In light of the events since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, it seems no longer appropriate to exempt monetary policy from normative scrutiny in this way. It has become one of the main tools, if not the single most important tool, of macroeconomic policy and is having an impact beyond the confines of its traditional mandate of price stability and financial stability.

Central banks form part of a division of labour in society. Each cog in this complex institutional wheel plays a specific role in promoting what economists call the social welfare function, that is, the set of policy objectives the polity aims to promote. In this book, the authors inquire whether today’s central banks and the institutional design they are part of are adequately serving “the good of the people” in this sense. Putting the narrow objectives standardly associated with central bank actions into a broader social context is one of the original contributions of this book. The analysis envisaged here requires weighing the benefits of central banks as we know them today – for example their relative immunity to electoral pressures in setting interest rate policy and in acting as a lender of last resort to commercial banks – against the costs of present institutional arrangements – for instance the impact that central bank independence has on inequality or on the balance of power between states and markets. Assessing the feasibility of alternative institutional arrangements forms an important part
of this assessment.

More specifically, the book presents three arguments suggesting that the benefits of central bank independence may today be outweighed by its costs. First, the more aggressive monetary policy pursued in response to the financial crises has had significant unintended consequences, notably in terms of rising inequality. Should central banks care about these externalities of their policy? Second, while the literature on central bank independence has traditionally focused on insulating monetary policy from political pressures, the economic pressures from financial markets are equally worrying. Arguably, central banks are increasingly subject to financial dominance. Third and finally, modern societies trust the expertise of central banks to identify the optimal means of promoting the objectives defined in their mandate. Does the scientific community of central banking have the necessary features to justify this trust?"

Morning session

- 10:00–10:30. Introduction and outline of the book: Clément Fontan (Göteborg University) & François Claveau (Sherbrooke)
- 10:30-11:30. Chapter 2, 'Central banks and inequality'. Commentator: Josep Ferret Mas (Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)
- 11:30-12:30. Chapter 3, 'Central banks and democratic legitimacy'. Commentator: Axel Gosseries (UCL)
- 12:30-14:00. Lunch

Afternoon session

- 14:00-15:00. Central banks and expertise. Commentators: Louis Larue (UCL)
- 15:00-15:15. Coffee Break.
- 15:15-16:15. Whence central banking? Institutional options for the future. Commentator: Delphine Irac (Paris School of Economics, UCL)
- 16:15-16:30. Concluding remarks.

14:00-15:00: Chapter 1: Democratic Autonomy as Educational End. Commentator: Hervé Pourtois (UCL)
15:00-16:00: Chapter 2. The Postmodern Critique of Education for Autonomy. Commentator: John Pitseys (CRISP, UCL)
16:15-17:15: Chapter 3. The Transnational Model of Democratic Education. Commentator: Nicolás Brando (KU Leuven)
17:15-18:15: Chapter 4. The Postcolonial Critique of Democratic Education. Commentator: Danielle Zwarthoed (UCL).

The book is divided into three parts: I- Global Equality, II- Ecology, and III- Resisting Global Injustice. Below is an abstract for each part. The workshop will include discussions of all three parts (in particular chapters 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9).

Abstract for Part I: This part seeks to outline and defend an egalitarian conception of global justice, and flesh out its practical implications. To do so it begins with an analysis of how we derive global principles of justice (Chapter 2). It then turns from methodological issues to substantive ones. Thus the next chapter seeks to motivate support for an egalitarian conception of global justice and the correlative responsibilities (Chapter 3), and Chapter 4 defends the claim that equality applies globally against those who maintain that egalitarian justice applies only within states. Finally, Chapter 5 turns from theory to practice, and considers the implications of global egalitarianism for trade, natural resources and migration.

Abstract for Part II: Part I has sought to outline and defend an account of global egalitarianism, and to explore what it entails in practice. Part II examines its implications for the environment, and ecological sustainability.

Abstract for Part III: Parts I and II have defended an egalitarian account of global economic and environmental justice. They have also identified the relevant duty-bearers. Of course, very often the actors charged with these responsibilities fail to discharge them. In such circumstances we might look to others to take on extra responsibilities. However, perhaps they too will not take on the extra responsibilities. We might then think that some others ought to perform more duties than otherwise. But, we might also ask: What may those who bear the brunt of injustice do to secure their own rights? Chapters 8 and 9 address this.

Session 1: Global Equality Chair: Danielle Zwarthoed (UCL)
10:00- 10:45 Chapter 2: Methodology Commentator: Julian Culp (Frankfurt)
10:45- 11:30 Chapter 4: Equality and the Scope of Justice Commentator: Helder De Schutter (KU Leuven) & Siba Harb (KU Leuven)
11:30- 12:00 General Discussion Part I

Session 2: Ecology Chair: Refia Kadayifici (UCL)
13:30- 14:15 Chapter 6: Ecological Sustainability Commentator: Greg Bognar (Stockholm) & Tony Taylor (Oxford)
14:15- 15:00 Chapter 7: Sustainable Liberalism Commentator: Axel Gosseries (UCL)
15:00- 15:30 General Discussion Part II

Session 3: Resistance Chair: Katarina Fragoso (UCL)
16:00-16:45 Chapter 8: Introducing the Right of Resistance Commentator: Anne Polkamp (KU Leuven) & Ercilia Aden (Cordoba)
16:45- 17:30 Chapter 9: Right of Resistance against global injustice Commentator: Bruno Verbeek (Leiden)
17:30-18:00 General Discussion Part III

Morning (Chair: Andrew Lister)

10am: Welcoming the participants
10.30: Introduction by Axel Gosseries and presentation of the book by Liam Shields
11: Politics and Distributive Justice - Pierre-Etienne Vandamme
11.15: Reply by the author
11.20: Collective discussion
11.30: What is Sufficientarianism? - Lasse Nielsen
11.45: Reply
11.50: Collective discussion
12: Coffee break
12.30: The Principle of Sufficient Autonomy - Chris Mills
12.45: Reply
12.50: Collective discussion
13: Lunch break

Afternoon (Chair: Julia Sichieri Moura)

14.30: Sufficiency and Education - Danielle Zwarthoed
14.45: Reply
14.50: Collective discussion
15: A Good Enough Upbringing - Anca Gheaus and Tim Meijers
15.15: Reply
15.20: Collective discussion
15.30: Sufficiency and Global Justice – David Axelsen and Siba Harb
15.45: Reply
15.50: Collective discussion
16: General discussion
16.30: Concluding remarks (Axel Gosseries)

With the financial support of the University of Manchester's School of Social Sciences and the London School of Economics.

Tuesday 26th of May 2015
Session I Chair: Philippe Van Parijs (UCL)
14.00 - 14.25 Chapter 1: Luck Egalitarianism, close and distant relatives
Commentator: Robert van der Veen (UvA/ Aarhus)
14.25 - 14.50 Chapter 2: Why Equality?
Commentator: Nicholas Vrousalis (Leiden)
14.50 - 15.30 Replies by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen & Discussion

Session II
Chair: Helder de Schutter (KULeuven)
16.00 – 16.25 Chapter 3: Luck
Commentator: Danielle Zwarthoed (UCL)
16.25 - 17.50 Chapter 4: Equality of What?
Commentator: Zofia Stemplowska (Oxford)
17.50 - 18.30 Replies by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen & Discussion

Wednesday 27th of May 2014
Session III
Chair: Siba Harb (Leuven)
10.00 - 10.25 Chapter 5: Telic and Deontic
Commentator: Gianfranco Pelligrino (LUISS)
10.25 - 10.50 Chapter 6: The Scope of Luck Egalitarianism
Commentator: Axel Gosseries (UCL)
11.50 - 12.00 Replies by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen & Discussion