Sustainable Development as Concept and Norm

Abstract

The idea of sustainable development has survived nearly a decade of rhetorical excess and academic criticism. From the Brundtland Report Our Common Future to Agenda 21, it has remained the central goal and guiding norm of environment-and-development politics. Though an ‘essentially contested concept’, it retains a widespread moral appeal. This is possibly due to the concept’s dual ethical foundation. By giving expression to both ‘realist’ (natural-law) and ‘consensualist’ (democratic) norms, it can claim support with respect to a broad spectrum of moral imperatives. The potential of the idea as a mobilising force for domestic political change lies in a combination of scientifically based moral urgency and a near-unanimous global acclamation. In addition, the politics of the UNCED process provide new and effective arenas for an emerging global civil society at a time of declining influence for national interest groups.

The words ‘sustainable’ and ‘sustainability’ seem to have lost any semblance of meaning recently through overuse. We need to recapture the concepts, provide them with real meaning, and begin a process of dialogue to make the concept reality. There is no running away from it.

Stephen Viederman, 1994