The Political Economy of Sustainability

Abstract

Sustainability is a "contested" concept introduced at the beginning of the 18th century in German forestry circles concerned about sustainable harvests and rebranded in 1987 as "sustainable development" by the Brundtland Report, which defined it as harmonious economic, social, and ecological development that enhances both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. However, after more than three decades of sustainable development, humanity is on an unsustainable path featuring rampant ecosystem damage, rising social inequality, and harmful cultural homogenization. This paper is a book review of Fred P. Gale's Political Economy of Sustainability, a book published in 2018 by Edward Elgar Publishers. The book advances the innovative idea that the current lack of progress in implementation of the sustainable development goals is due to the narrow understanding by individuals, firms, states, and political parties of the values underlying sustainability. The book thus starts a much-needed conversation about economic values, a conversation ousted from the neo-classical economics discipline in the late 19th century by the marginalist thinkers who wanted to make it a positive science. The book identifies four elemental economic values-exchange value, labor value, use value, and function value-and argues that basing our socio-economic and political development on only one type of value with the exclusion of the others has led to the current dangerously unsustainable path humankind is on. Achieving sustainability value requires a balanced integration of all four types of values in all deliberations about socio-economic activities. How can this be accomplished? The author proposes a pragmatic solution in the form of a "tetravaluation" process, a dialogue involving multiple value holders able to reflexively negotiate and compromise until the pluralistic sustainability value is discovered and accepted by all the parties. The book challenges the unsustainable functioning of existing economic, political, and cultural institutions and invites a rethinking of their governance, which should deliberately embrace the pluralistic value of sustainability. The tetravaluation process has the potential to generate sustainable choices and inform better policy decisions able to protect at the same time the proponents of exchange value (consumers), the promoters of labor value (workers, producers), the beneficiaries of use value (communities), and the holder of functional values (the environment).

The Relevance of Mosque Financial Inclusion and Economic Sustainability

“…Handling complex difficulties associated with diverse dynamic and interdependent systems 21 , and the field of sustainable economic growth research is expanding. 22 Linkage, emergence, resilience/adaptive capacity, self-organization and feedback are critical to global sustainability efforts. 23 Therefore, systems-based frameworks for sustainability measurement, management, and decision-making are crucial for the shift to a sustainable economy.…”

Role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in Sustainability and Industrialization: A conceptual analysis

“…In order to continue sustainable development, it is necessary to strike a balance between meeting individual needs and protecting the ecosystem and all natural resources (Hilty & Hercheui, 2010). Recent development in resolving environmental concerns brought on by human activities have stimulated research on environmental issues and the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) as a possible mitigating factor in this digital age (Leal-Filho, et al, 2019;Sabau, 2020). ICT has been shown to present a potential chance for policymakers to address problems with sustainable development, like environmental degradation caused by CO2 emissions (Asongu, 2018;Asongu, et al, 2018).…”

Employer Branding in the Context of the Company’s Sustainable Development Strategy from the Perspective of Gender Diversity of Generation Z

“…The notion of sustainable development is now very popular both in science [19] and business practice [20]. It is not only one of the best known and most frequently quoted concepts combining natural environment and development but also best accounted for in publications such as, i.a., World Conservation Strategy IUCN 1980 [21,22], "Our common future" (the Brundtland Report) [23][24][25], and concluding documents from the 1992 Rio De Janeiro Conference and the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, the 2015 Report on the Millennium Development Goals [26], and the Agenda for Sustainable Development [27] passed at the UN Summit in New York on 25 September 2020, with 17 objectives to be met by 2030. The agenda is addressed not only to governments and parliaments, international institutions, local authorities and residents but also to businesses and the private sector [28].…”