Colloque - Socialisme et égalitarisme libéral : un dialogue nécessaire - Martin O'Neill : The Climate Emergency, State Power, and the Expansion of Democratic Control

Lea YpiL'invention de l'Europe par les langues et les cultures (2025-2026)Collège de FranceAnnée 2025-2026Colloque : Socialisme et égalitarisme libéral : un dialogue nécessaireThe Climate Emergency, State Power, and the Expansion of Democratic ControlMartin O'NeillProfessor of Political Philosophy, University of YorkRésuméThe global climate emergency has presented a deep challenge to the capacities of states throughout the world, and this challenge has been one to which thus far most states have failed adequately to respond. At the same time, the problem of climate change has also presented a connected challenge to mainstream contemporary liberal egalitarian political philosophy, which has since its foundations in the work of Rawls and Dworkin, proceeded on an assumption of the centrality of market mechanisms in coordinating economic production. In this presentation I will explore how these two challenges are linked, and the implications of this connection for how we should think about the role of markets within plausible accounts of social justice. I will argue that illumination of these problems can come from a perhaps unexpected source, when we return to the work of George Orwell, and in particular his discussion of the relationship between state capacities in times of emergency, the need to subordinate markets to democratic purposes, and the significance of reducing forms of unequal political and financial power within democratic societies.Martin O'NeillMartin O'Neill is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of York. He works on issues of equality, democracy and economic justice. His research connects normative political theory with practical questions about institutions, public policy, and the organisation of economic life.Martin is the co-author of The Case for Community Wealth Building (Polity Press, 2019), and the co-editor of Taxation: Philosophical Perspectives (Oxford University Press, 2018) and Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). His work has appeared in leading journals including Philosophy & Public Affairs, Political Philosophy, and the Journal of Political Philosophy.Before coming to York, Martin was Hallsworth Research Fellow in Political Economy at the University of Manchester, and before that he was Research Fellow in Philosophy and Politics at St John's College, Cambridge. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford (BA, BPhil) and at Harvard University (PhD).He has acted as a consultant to organisations such as the International Labour Organization, and is a member of the Trustee Board of the Democracy Collaborative, a US-based 'think-do tank' which works on models for a more democratic economy. In 2026 he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.-- Ce colloque se propose d'explorer un dialogue essentiel entre deux traditions majeures de la pensée politique contemporaine : le socialisme et l'égalitarisme libéral. Toutes deux visent à réduire les inégalités et à promouvoir la justice sociale, mais elles divergent sur les moyens et les principes qui doivent guider cette transformation. Alors que l'égalitarisme libéral insiste sur l'égalité des chances et la redistribution par des institutions démocratiques, le socialisme met l'accent sur la transformation des structures économiques et la remise en question des rapports de domination capitalistes. Ce symposium réunit philosophes, économistes et théoriciens politiques pour examiner comment ces deux approches peuvent se compléter et s'enrichir mutuellement. En confrontant la critique socialiste de l'accumulation capitaliste et les principes libéraux de liberté et de pluralisme, on cherche à ouvrir des pistes pour une société plus juste et démocratique, capable de répondre aux défis du XXIᵉ siècle.