Sustainable development
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT INSTITUTE
WORKING PAPER 00-04
Basic Principles of Sustainable Development
Jonathan M. Harris
June 2000
Tufts University
Medford MA 02155, USA http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae © Copyright 2000 Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
G-DAE Working Paper No. 00-04: “Basic Principles of Sustainable Development”
Basic Principles of Sustainable Development 1
Jonathan M. Harris jonathan.harris@tufts.edu 1. The Concept of Development
Great ideas are usually simple ideas. While the specific analysis of any important topic will necessarily involve complexity and subtlety, the fundamental concepts which underlie powerful paradigms of thought are usually relatively straightforward and easy to grasp. In the area of social science, ideas which affect millions of people and guide the policies of nations must be accessible to all, not just to an elite. Only thus can they permeate institutions from the local to the global level, and become a part of the human landscape, part of the fabric within which we define our lives.
Such is the concept of development. Prior to the second half of the twentieth century, the idea of development as we know it today barely existed. The structures of imperial and colonial power which dominated the world in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries made little provision for economic and social advance in what we now call the developing world.
Colonial regions functioned primarily to supply imperial powers with raw materials and cheap labor – including slave labor as late as the mid-nineteenth century.
Within the richer countries of Europe, North America, and Japan, economic growth was of course central to the generally accepted goals of “progress” and “modernization”, but there was relatively little concern for issues of equity and social justice. The desperate poverty and weak or non-existent social safety nets in Europe and the United States during the
WORKING PAPER 00-04
Basic Principles of Sustainable Development
Jonathan M. Harris
June 2000
Tufts University
Medford MA 02155, USA http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae © Copyright 2000 Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University
G-DAE Working Paper No. 00-04: “Basic Principles of Sustainable Development”
Basic Principles of Sustainable Development 1
Jonathan M. Harris jonathan.harris@tufts.edu 1. The Concept of Development
Great ideas are usually simple ideas. While the specific analysis of any important topic will necessarily involve complexity and subtlety, the fundamental concepts which underlie powerful paradigms of thought are usually relatively straightforward and easy to grasp. In the area of social science, ideas which affect millions of people and guide the policies of nations must be accessible to all, not just to an elite. Only thus can they permeate institutions from the local to the global level, and become a part of the human landscape, part of the fabric within which we define our lives.
Such is the concept of development. Prior to the second half of the twentieth century, the idea of development as we know it today barely existed. The structures of imperial and colonial power which dominated the world in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries made little provision for economic and social advance in what we now call the developing world.
Colonial regions functioned primarily to supply imperial powers with raw materials and cheap labor – including slave labor as late as the mid-nineteenth century.
Within the richer countries of Europe, North America, and Japan, economic growth was of course central to the generally accepted goals of “progress” and “modernization”, but there was relatively little concern for issues of equity and social justice. The desperate poverty and weak or non-existent social safety nets in Europe and the United States during the