TECHNOLOGY, GLOBALIZATION, AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Transforming the Industrial State NICHOLAS A. ASHFORD RALPH P. HALL New Haven & London —-1 —0 —+1 561-45401_ch00_8P.indd iii 6/23/11 9:47 AM I The Multidimensional Concept of Sustainability In Part I of this book we discuss the nature (Chapter one issue, such as climate change, or even a small 1) and evolution (Chapter 2) of the multidimensional group of concerns will limit options and ignore oppor- concepts of sustainability and sustainable develop- tunities to develop cross-cutting approaches to address ment. unsustainable trends in a comprehensive manner. Chapter 1 begins by exploring two central compo- Chapter 2 provides a brief historical context for nents of sustainable development— meeting basic hu- the ideas and themes discussed in Chapter 1. It iden- man needs and equality, which are discussed in the tifi es a number of important texts, national and in- context of governance. We then consider the current ternational events, and U.S. regulations from 1951 to economic growth model and the importance given to 2009 that helped shape the current and continually technological innovation as the key to solving the sus- evolving notion of sustainable development. An ex- tainability challenge. The chapter ends by highlighting panded version of Chapter 2 is provided in the Primer several critical issues that we argue must be included on the Emergence of Sustainable Development found in future development strategies. A narrow focus on on the website associated with this work. —-1 —0 —+1 561-45401_ch01_8P.indd 17 6/23/11 9:49 AM 1 Concern for a Global Future 1.1 Human Needs 20 1.4 A Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Development 88 1.1.1 The Mea sure ment of (Human) Development 22 1.5 The Eu ro pe an Union’s Strategy for Sustainable Development: 1.1.2 Consumption and Well- Being 33 The Lisbon Strategy and Eu rope 2020 97 1.1.3 Employment 35 1.6 The Reformulation of Sustainable Development as a Problem of 1.1.4 Human Needs and Sustainability 54 Global Climate Change 100 1.2 Social Justice, In e qual ity, and the Social Contract between the 1.7 Broadening Our Awareness of Tipping Points 101 Governed and the Government 56 1.2.1 The Social Contract and the Theory of Justice 56 1.8 The 2008 Financial Crisis and Opportunities for 1.2.2 Operationalizing the Social Contract 61 Reconceptualization of the Growth Paradigm 102 1.2.3 Equality of What? 69 1.9 The Necessity of Solving Problems on a Comprehensive 1.3 Living beyond Our Ecological Means: The Technology Basis 105 Debate 73 1.10 Notes 105 1.3.1 Growth, Technology, and Substitution versus a Steady- 1.11 Additional Readings 106 State Economy 77 1.12 References 106 1.3.2 The Environment and Affl uence: The Environmental Kuznets Curve 80 1.3.3 Technological Optimism 86 t the beginning of the twenty- fi rst cen- sustenance requirements. Telecommunications sys- tury, the world might have been described tems have enabled friends, families, businesses, orga- as one of signifi cant technological prog- nizations, and governments to communicate verbally ress, industrialization, and globalization. and visually across thousands of miles. Combine Our current standard of living is based these technologies with our modern transportation Aon many drivers of modern progress. In developed systems, and we remove the notion of the frontier. nations, energy systems supply power to our homes, Having achieved such progress, why should we places of work, and general environment. When we now be concerned about the future of humankind on become ill, we fi nd an abundance of modern drugs a global scale? One answer is that just over 1 billion that can ease or cure our suffering, maintaining or people have any meaningful access to the resources improving our physical and emotional well- being. and quality of life described above. The rest of the Global fi nancial and commodity markets provide tril- world’s population—some 5 billion people who live lions of dollars a day to supply our investment and in less developed regions—have only a taste of what consumption needs. The agricultural sector, through this standard of living might be like (Durning 1992, mechanization and other technological and biolog- 1994; UNDP 2003). Second, even within the devel- ical advances, has been able to supply our growing oped countries, many people do not have access to —-1 —0 —+1 561-45401_ch01_8P.indd 19 6/23/11 9:49 AM Technology, Globalization, and Sustainable Development 20 an adequate supply of essential goods, ser vices, hous- rapid technological change, which are mutually rein- ing, health care, and other necessities. As a result of forcing and create a set of conditions that shortens the fi nancial crisis of 2008, a signifi cant number of the necessary response time for policy, restricts na- people in the developed world are losing their homes tional policy options, and possibly exacerbates dis- and/or their jobs. Energy supply and use in the face tributional in e qual ity and ecological damage. This of both the uncertainty of future availability and chapter sets out these concerns. global climate disruption are increasingly becoming serious concerns. In e qual ity is leading toward a world 1.1 HUMAN NEEDS of growing disparity both between industrialized and developing nations and among different segments of The major problems of the world today can be the population within those countries. In effect, the solved only if we improve our understanding of communities of less developed regions and poor ar- human behavior. Skinner, About Behaviorism, 1974 eas are held captive to the needs and wants of those who are well- off in industrialized (and some in indus- During the mid-1970s, the idea that the purpose of trializing) nations, whose living and consuming hab- development was to develop things (for example, to its are in many ways condemning billions of people to transform resources into commodities/products) was a lower (material) quality of life. Put simply, if each rejected and redefi ned to focus development on sat- member of the global community were to live the isfying the needs of humankind. lifestyle of the average U.S. or U.K. citizen, holding In 1973, Schumacher published Small Is Beautiful, technology constant, we would need the resources of which challenged the prevailing patterns of develop- somewhere between 1.5 and 8 planet Earths (McLaren, ment and approach to global economics. Schumacher Bullock, et al. 1997; Wilson 2002; WWF 2006). It is (1999, p. 139) rejected the idea that what “is best for clear that a global drive to reach the Westernized view the rich must be best for the poor” and redefi ned the of the good life, without a drastic change in production conventional view of development toward human pro cesses and consumption patterns, will soon bring needs. “Development does not start with goods; it us up against ecological and physical limits and force starts with people and their education, or ga niza tion, us to rethink what we mean by a secure and fulfi lling and discipline. Without these three, all resources re- lifestyle. main latent, untapped, potential” (ibid.). These introductory paragraphs present a highly A year later, the Cocoyoc Declaration built on the simplifi ed view of the world, and there is clearly a ideas of Schumacher and placed basic human needs continuum of positions between those presented. at the center of development efforts, stating that The central argument of this book is that if we are “any pro cess of growth that does not lead to their interested in the well- being of current and future fulfi lment— or, even worse, disrupts them— is a trav- 1 generations, we not only should be concerned for the esty of the idea of development.” * The following year future of the world but also should be actively search- the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (1975) articu- ing for new ways to enable individuals, communities, lated a similar position on the objective of develop- and nations to live a sustainable life, what might be ment in What Now: Another Development. It called called a sustainable livelihood. If present trends con- for the “development of every man and woman—of tinue and the structural forces driving them remain substantially unchanged, there is a strong possibility * The infl uence of Schumacher’s work is clearly evident that within a few generations the world will be inca- throughout the Cocoyoc Declaration. Schumacher’s call for a pable of sustaining the human population at an ade- “metaphysical reconstruction” (Schumacher 1999, p. xi)—the quate level of material well- being and health, and need to reconstruct the meaning of ideas such as development, economics, knowledge, wealth, employment, and technology— is that it will lack suffi cient and equitable opportunities present in the Cocoyoc Declaration’s redefi nition of develop- for the realization of human potential. These trends ment in terms of self- reliance. Like Schumacher, the declaration include per sis tent (and often growing) inequalities rejects economic development that maintains or increases the between and within nations (including the United disparities between and within countries and argues for eco- nomic growth that benefi ts the poorest sections of each society. States) and persuasive evidence that we are living Further, the declaration also rejects what might be called the beyond our ecological and physical means. “developed-nation model” in favor of development that supports Further, the social and po liti cal environment in a nation- state’s societal and cultural norms. In this sense, the declaration asks the international community to respect the di- which policy responses to these trends must be made versity of each country and to accept that there is more than one -1— is a diffi cult one.