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What Is Development?
Are you sure that you know what “devel- Goals and Means of Development
opment” really means with respect to How do we
different countries? And can you deter- Different countries have different priori- determine which
mine which countries are more devel- ties in their development policies. But to
oped and which are less? compare their development levels, you
countries are more
would first have to make up your mind developed and
It is somewhat easier to say which coun- about what development really means to which less?
tries are richer and which are poorer. But you, what it is supposed to achieve.
indicators of wealth, which reflect the Indicators measuring this achievement
quantity of resources available to a soci- could then be used to judge countries’
ety, provide no information about the relative progress in development.
allocation of those resources—for
instance, about more or less equitable Is the goal merely to increase national
distribution of income among social wealth, or is it something more subtle?
groups, about the shares of resources Improving the well-being of the majority
used to provide free health and education of the population? Ensuring people’s free-
services, and about the effects of produc- dom? Increasing their economic security?1
tion and consumption on people’s envi-
ronment. Thus it is no wonder that Recent United Nations documents
countries with similar average incomes emphasize “human development,” mea-
can differ substantially when it comes to sured by life expectancy, adult literacy,
people’s quality of life: access to educa- access to all three levels of education, as
tion and health care, employment oppor- well as people’s average income, which is
tunities, availability of clean air and safe a necessary condition of their freedom of
drinking water, the threat of crime, and choice. In a broader sense the notion of
so on. With that in mind, how do we human development incorporates all
determine which countries are more aspects of individuals’ well-being, from
developed and which are less developed? their health status to their economic and
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If you think that the “simple” answer to this question is something like “maximizing people’s happiness,” think
of the different factors that usually make people feel happy or unhappy. Note that a number of special surveys in
different countries appear to show that the average level of happiness in a country does not grow along with the
increase in average income, at least after a certain rather modest income level is achieved. At the same time, in each
country richer people usually reported slightly higher levels of happiness than poorer people, and people in coun-
tries with more equal distribution of wealth appeared to be generally happier.
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BEYOND ECONOMIC GROWTH
political freedom. According to the provided by nature, such as pollution
Human Development Report 1996, pub- absorption and resource regeneration.
lished by the United Nations Develop- Moreover, economic growth must be
ment Program, “human development is constantly nourished by the fruits of
the end—economic growth a means.” human development, such as higher
qualified workers capable of technologi-
It is true that economic growth, by cal and managerial innovations along
increasing a nation’s total wealth, also with opportunities for their efficient use:
enhances its potential for reducing more and better jobs, better conditions
poverty and solving other social for new businesses to grow, and greater
problems. But history offers a number of democracy at all levels of decisionmaking
examples where economic growth was (see Fig. 1.1).
not followed by similar progress in
human development. Instead growth was Conversely, slow human development
achieved at the cost of greater inequality, can put an end to fast economic growth.
higher unemployment, weakened According to the Human Development
democracy, loss of cultural identity, or Report 1996, “during 1960–1992 not a
overconsumption of natural resources single country succeeded in moving from
needed by future generations. As the lopsided development with slow human
links between economic growth and development and rapid growth to a vir-
social and environmental issues are better tuous circle in which human develop-
understood, experts including econo- ment and growth can become mutually
mists tend to agree that this kind of reinforcing.” Since slower human devel-
growth is inevitably unsustainable—that opment has invariably been followed by
is, it cannot continue along the same slower economic growth, this growth
lines for long. First, if environmental and pattern was labeled a “dead end.”
social/human losses resulting from eco-
nomic growth turn out to be higher than
economic benefits (additional incomes Sustainable Development
earned by the majority of the popula-
tion), the overall result for people’s well- Sustainable development is a term
being becomes negative. Thus such widely used by politicians all over the
economic growth becomes difficult to world, even though the notion is still
sustain politically. Second, economic rather new and lacks a uniform interpre-
growth itself inevitably depends on its tation. Important as it is, the concept of
natural and social/human conditions. To sustainable development is still being
be sustainable, it must rely on a certain developed and the definition of the term
amount of natural resources and services is constantly being revised, extended,
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1 WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
Why is equity
important for
sustainable
development?
and refined. Using this book, you can ple continue to jeopardize the well-being
try to formulate your own definition as of people belonging to other groups or
you learn more about the relationships living in other parts of the world.
among its main components—the eco- Imagine, for example, that emissions of
nomic, social, and environmental factors greenhouse gases, generated mainly by
of sustainable development—and as you highly industrialized countries, lead to
decide on their relative significance global warming and flooding of certain
based on your own system of values. low-lying islands—resulting in the dis-
placement and impoverishment of entire
According to the classical definition island nations (see Chapter 14). Or con-
given by the United Nations World sider the situation when higher profits of
Commission on Environment and pharmaceutical companies are earned at
Development in 1987, development is the cost of millions of poor people being
sustainable if it “meets the needs of the unable to afford medications needed for
present without compromising the abil- treating their life-threatening diseases.
ity of future generations to meet their
own needs.” It is usually understood that “Sustainable” development could proba-
this “intergenerational” equity would be bly be otherwise called “equitable and
impossible to achieve in the absence of balanced,” meaning that, in order for
present-day social equity , if the eco- development to continue indefinitely, it
nomic activities of some groups of peo- should balance the interests of different
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BEYOND ECONOMIC GROWTH
groups of people, within the same gener- value of greater national security with the
ation and among generations, and do so negative value of slower economic growth
simultaneously in three major interre- (loss of jobs and income) and some, pos-
lated areas–economic, social, and envi- sibly irreversible, environmental damage?
ronmental. So sustainable development is There is no strictly scientific method of
about equity, defined as equality of performing such valuations and compar-
opportunities for well-being, as well as isons. However, governments have to
about comprehensiveness of objectives. make these kinds of decisions on a regular
Figure 1.2 shows just a few of the many basis. If such decisions are to reflect the
objectives, which, if ignored, threaten to interests of the majority, they must be
slow down or reverse development in taken in the most democratic and partici-
other areas. You are invited to add more patory way possible. But even in this case,
objectives and explain how, in your opin- there is a high risk that long-term inter-
ion, they are connected to others. In the ests of our children and grandchildren
following chapters you will find many end up unaccounted for, because future
examples of such interconnections. generations cannot vote for themselves.
Thus, to ensure that future generations
Obviously, balancing so many diverse inherit the necessary conditions to pro-
objectives of development is an enormous vide for their own welfare, our present-
challenge for any country. For instance, day values must be educated enough to
how would you compare the positive reflect their interests as well.
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1 WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT?
The challenge is further complicated by also stands in the way of achieving most
the fact that in today’s interdependent other goals of development, from clean
world many aspects of sustainable devel- environment to personal freedom.
opment are in fact international or even Another, closely related, global problem
global. On the one hand, many deci- is establishing and preserving peace in
sions taken at the national or even local all regions and all countries. War, as
level actually have international conse- well as poverty, is inherently destructive What are the
quences–economic, social, environmen- of all economic as well as social and necessary
tal. When these consequences are environmental goals of development
negative, the situation is sometimes (see Fig. 1.2).
conditions for
referred to as “exporting unsustainabil- sustainable
ity.” On the other hand, national poli- In the final analysis sustainable develop- development?
cies are often inadequate to effectively ment is about long-term conditions for
deal with many challenges of sustainabil- humanity’s multidimensional well-being.
ity. Thus international cooperation on For example, the famous Rio
the wide range of so-called transbound- Declaration, adopted by the United
ary and global problems of sustainable Nations Conference on Environment
development becomes indispensable. and Development in 1992 (also called
the Earth Summit, held in Rio de
Arguably, the most critical problem of Janeiro, Brazil), puts it this way:
sustainable development—in each “Human beings are at the center of con-
country as well as globally—is eradicat- cern for sustainable development. They
ing extreme poverty. That is because are entitled to a healthy and productive
poverty is not only an evil in itself. It life in harmony with nature.”
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