D.P.# Politicians and Rulers: are they working for the development of countries?

In my texts I’ll discuss the role played by our current politicians in the social development of the countries in the world. Before starting, there are some assumptions that have to be clear. First of all, this is a general topic, obviously there are differences between countries, but the considerations are applicable to most of democratic systems around the world. Second, the aim is not to define development, but we will assume that development is not the same as wealth or economic power.

To begin, it’s important to point out that in the inception of the organized States and democratic governments, they were considered to be a way that people could live in society and fulfill their basic needs of security. Greek Plato, in his book called “The Republic”, introduced an idea of justice and Form of Good, mentioning the government as a way to promote this. Since then, fighting for power became the main purposes of most prevailing states in the world, regardless the historic context.

However, in the second half of last century, the world reached a point that was unknown in its history. The population grew fast, the natural resources were extensively consumed and the gap between rich countries and poor countries became more evident, as well as the gap between rich people and poor people. The first relevant public concern about this came up at the end of the 60’s, when the Club of Rome¹ presented a study² conducted by Jay Forrester, professor at MIT, in which he affirmed that the main problems in the world were generated by growth, not only population growth, but also economic growth.

Obviously, governments refused this theory and the economy kept growing, widening the abysm between rich and poor, extensively damaging our environment and promoting conflicts around the world. The preferences for local and short-term results have intensified, becoming the mainstream trend for government policies and private actions. Taking consumption as an obsession, governments argued that it would lead us to economic growth, which by itself would lead us to the development, the equality, and using a metaphor, to the “greek Form of Good”.

Unfortunately, facts have shown us that the world reached an unsustainable consumption level, the poverty is widespread as it has never been in absolute terms and the environment is asking for help. And how is the world facing this challenge? With more attempts toward economy growth!!! Day after day, countries are provoking artificial economic growth, based on credit concessions and huge fiscal deficits. As the results of these policies indicate, the current economic model has clearly got to a dead end and the leaderships are all covering their faces to avoid seeing it, preferring to leave these concerns to be dealt in the future. In next posts, I intend to explore what are the principles that avoid our governments to face it properly and if there are changes coming ahead.

Finaly, I’d like to add a very short video about the main idea presented in the document “Limits to Growth”, that resulted from Jay Forrester’s team work, regarding the Club of Rome’s request. It’s amazing how the time has reinforced their conclusions.

¹ Club of Rome: Founded in 1968, it’s an independent non-profit organization, which mission is “to act as a global catalyst for change through the identification and analysis of the crucial problems facing humanity and the communication of such problems to the most important public and private decision makers as well as to the general public.” The organization relies on the work of its almost 100 members, from the scientific, political, business, financial, academic, religious, cultural and civil society communities.

² Forrester, J.W. 1971, World Dynamics, Portland, Oreg.: Productivity Press.

Sources:

Meadows, D. 1999, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, Hartland, VT.: Sustainability Institute.

Club of Rome. [online] Available at: <http://www.clubofrome.org/>. Accessed on Nov.29th, 2011.

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