Urs Lindner presents a working paper on 'The Egalitarian Character of Affirmative Action. On its Desirability and Viability'

Which is the positive vision of a better society that is at stake in affirmative action policies? What kind of equality do these policies policies strive to achieve? The paper aims to answer these questions in four steps. First, it is argued that the normative conflict about affirmative action is basically one between formal and substantial equality. In the following chapters, three kinds of substantial equality are discussed: equal opportunity, distributive equality and relational equality. It is shown that equal opportunity and distributive equality run into problems both as regards the desirability and the viability of affirmative action and that only relational equality can provide a normatively and pragmatically adequate framework for this policy.