The Power of Unsustainable Development: What is to be Done?

Abstract

Regardless of the state of theory and practice in sustain-able development, there is no doubt that an ethical/moral imperative exists to address socioeconomic inequality and degradation of the environment. To realize the goals of sustainable development, it must be liberated from its embeddedness in the ideology and institutional parameters of capitalism. This calls for a departure from the current reformist character of development theory and the practice and articulation of an alternative vision of political economy, as well as a politically strong commitment to realizing it. This endeavor should be global in scope: not in an attempt to create a homogeneous world order but rather to prevent social diversity from being reconfigured and disciplined according to the imperatives of capital. The state must play a pivotal role if social transformative efforts are to bear fruit and break through the impasse capitalism has imposed on realizing the goals of sustainable development.