On the objectives and the factual basis of sustainable development in the early 21st century

• Main Author: Prica Miloš
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Law, Niš 2014-01-01
• Series: Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta u Nišu
• Subjects: sustainable development; humankind; environmental law; environmental policy; legal principles; ideology; a branch of law; corporate capital elite; art of ruling; social justice
• Online Access: http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/0350-8501/2014/0350-85011468229P.pdf

It is highly indicative that the genesis and development of the principle of sustainable development on the international scale fully corresponds (time-wise) with the genesis and development of the so-called globalization process. As illogical as it may sound, this fact may provide an answer to the question why the institutionalization of the idea of sustainable development at the international level has not contributed to guiding the globalization process towards the basic human values. Had the leading states in the early 1970s been really aware of the need to control the global economy via ecology, the legal nature of sustainable development at the beginning of the 21st century would have its definite and clear reflection on the economic and social developments of humankind. The fact that the states had no such awareness certainly does not entail that the institutionalization of sustainable development was initiated by scholars and the general public, primarily because their role on the international scene has always been perceived as 'having a snowball fight with a blizzard'. Considering the fact that environmental issues were suddenly given a huge international publicity in the early 1970s, as well as the fact that the idea of sustainable development was not legally institutionalized at a later stage, we are fully entitled to explore the following issue: whether the idea of sustainable development (just like the idea of globalization) was actually initiated and controlled by the corporate elite in possession of huge financial capital. For, what appears to be illogical may actually be an expression of the brilliant art of ruling demonstrated by the covert power-holders. Just as democracy, human rights and protection of the 'free world' have been employed by the United States as a screen for establishing their own imperialisms, the transfer of economic and political power from the state level to the domain of multinational corporations has ensued behind the shroud of international institutionalization of sustainable development; concurrently, environmental issues have been put into the service of justifying the need to transfer the sovereignty from the state to global international institutions. After all, such an understanding of this ruling method is indeed confirmed by the fact that the issue of sustainable development is nowadays largely regarded as a problem of intergenerational solidarity, which is an obvious distraction that leads us off track. The founders of the global neoliberal capitalism do not dispute the need for sustainable development, just as they do not dispute either democracy or the rule of law. Yet, the ruling method employed by the corporate capital elite is not so much exemplified in the denial of the fundamental values of the Western civilization as it is embodied in making these values inconsequential. The latest developments underlying this method today are the sustainable development without a substantial meaning, human rights without actual freedom, the system of representative democracy without a democratic society, and the rule of regulations without the rule of law. Bearing all this in mind, sustainable development may not be equated with the balance of global power of the leading forces on the geo-political scene. The creation of a multi-polar world and the international law reform are important but insufficient conditions for a comprehensive institutionalization of sustainable development. Actually, in order to ensure the capacity of sustainable development as a value-based cornerstone for the survival and development of mankind in the 21st century, it is necessary to disempower the corporate capital elite, encourage the modern man to abandon the materialistic consumption-oriented viewpoint, and move towards creating a system based on ethics and social justice. Moreover, the disempowerment of the corporate capital elite is a necessary precondition for restoring the legitimacy of the rule of law and democracy.