Must Egalitarians rely on the State to attain Distributive Justice?

It is widely accepted among egalitarian political philosophers that distributive justice should be promoted by the state. This paper challenges this presumption by making two key claims. First, the state is not the only possible mechanism for attaining distributive justice. We could rely alternatively on the voluntary efforts and interactions of individuals and associations in civil society. The question of which mechanism we should rely upon is a comparative and empirical one. What matters is which better promotes distributive justice. We cannot settle the question a priori in favor of the state. Second, several considerations suggest a presumption in favor of civil society