Development Perspective Part 1: the idea of Limitation
Our first approach with the subject has been a great brainstorming session on the key words and concepts: we expressed our meaning of development and we went through the historical evolution of the concept, which into society has been too often unified (or better confused) with the concept of economic growth.
We came to distinguish between indicators dealing with consumption and production of material things (i.e. economic growth expressed by increasing GDP), which don’t reflect the real wellbeing of global society, and community values, which are essentials to the physical and emotional human wellbeing and ecological health. Ideas as gender equality, international cooperation, and life progress emerged.
Today I would like to introduce another concept, which in my opinion is central on the analysis of development issues: the idea of limitation.
Society looks like obsessed with the necessity to grow, to move on, to progress toward some further state. Yet when we want to go somewhere, I assume the destination should be quite clear, while in our current reality, actions seem to conduct to blind alleys, even steps back on the path of development.
Which state was the most common assumption of success in our socio-economic system?
Leaders, politicians, managers and finally people believed that our successful society to which we had to progress was the one where continuous increase in economic conditions will help satisfy the necessity of more and more portions of the world population; they assumed that intensive production and consumption of goods exploiting earth’s resources as much as possible will solve hunger and unemployment; in the case of our economy resulting impoverished, thanks to free markets we can go somewhere else, to find new resources and new customers; people will be happy because globalization has brought them the life style and goods enjoyable by others richer;
Unfortunately such vision of society success didn’t take into account the beauty of different cultures and the health of its children; it didn’t take into account the earth’s capacity of absorption of activities and the value of sharing.
Maybe it is necessary to rebuild the idea of progress involving the idea of limit, as the following examples describe:
- Quality of Life doesn’t mean high consumption of goods, but an united family and a friend who always support and encourage you;
- Helping society satisfy its basic needs doesn’t mean producing more and more, means providing long lasting and quality goods with as few resources as possible.
- Prosperity doesn’t means financial growth, means conservation of natural common goods.
If we aspire to achieve a Sustainable society maybe the first step is not forward but backward; moving back instead of moving on: we should recognize the structural errors in the system and redesign processes in a more visionary and strategic way.
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03 Nov 2011
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Francesco Mazzeo
IMSD /
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