Common Good Ecology

Over the last 15 years or so, a vibrant new set of ideas and thinkers have emerged in reaction to the progressive liberalism that continues to dominate the core institutions of Western society. These thinkers draw on long-standing intellectual and practical traditions such as communitarianism, community organising, mutualism and Catholic Social Thought . From this comes a political philosophy that rejects in equal measure both the free market and the centralised state as the main sources of collective goods, and centres itself instead on intermediary institutions, community, solidarity, associational life, and the moral imperative to seek the common good together. These thinkers and ideas are sometimes described as ‘postliberal’ (although there is perhaps not yet enough international co-operation for this to be considered a self-recognised ‘school of thought’).

This conference seeks to draw together postliberal thinkers and practitioners from Europe and the US to debate some of these questions and explore the possibility of future collaborations. At a time when environmentalism has been pulled into the dynamics of political polarization in many Western countries, with extreme progressive activists pitted against denialist populists, increasingly there is a need for a more broad-based approach to environmental protection that resonates with the values of most people. This conference aims to make a contribution to meeting that need.