Conference paper
UN-SUSTAINABILITY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Aleksandar Štulhofer
; Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb
Abstract
The report questions political and economical basis of the concept
"sustainable development" (SD), the difficulties of implementation being almost
forgotten in general environmental enthusiasm. The first part brings the
analytical discussion about the phenomenon of collective action, the existing
difficulties are investigated (as tragedy of commons, free riding, prisoner's
dilemma) as well as the empirically shown resistance. The stability of
cooperation is systematically organised through the "principles of cooperation"
and "background processes" (reciprocity, learning, rules and sanctions effects,
mastering of values) as well as through the "theory of critical mass".
The second part of the report introduces the application of the
described analytical model on international politics, particularly onto the
sector in charge of solving global ecological crises. The results are
disastrous: international cooperation is unstable, not resistant to egotism.
The possibilities of planetary ecological regulation - three ways of
"motivating" the cooperation (new leviathan, rise of post-materialistic
values and creation of eco-market) are significantly limited by mistakes
"in construction" making them ineffective for the control of growth of
population - the macro-crisis par excellence.
The final part of the report offers the (lapidary) consideration of the tasks of natural and humanistic sciences. Leading among the latter one is a kind of "de-construction of humanism" - as a possible way out from the "social trap" of maximising rationality.
Keywords
collective action; humanism; international cooperation; maximising rationality (egotism); sustainable development; tragedy of commons
Hrčak ID:
139075
URI
Publication date:
15.7.1993.
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