From Here to Sustainability: Politics in the Real World

Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 7
Foreword......Page 9
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations......Page 16
What State are We in? The Paradox of Our Times......Page 18
Mind the Gaps: The Fault Lines in the Politics of the Real World......Page 22
The New Context for the Politics of the Real World: New Labour’s Progress......Page 26
The Gap between Ambition and Reality......Page 28
Richer Choices, Richer Futures: Connecting Sustainable Development and Modernization......Page 35
The Rest of this Report......Page 38
Western Dominance: The End of History?......Page 39
‘Business as Usual’: The Ideas Behind the Dominant Model of Progress......Page 40
Questioning ‘Business as Usual’......Page 42
The Modernization Project and Sustainable Development: Affinities and Shared Agendas......Page 47
The Sustainability Gap: Why the Third Way Falls Short of Sustainable Development......Page 49
The Fear of Environmentalism......Page 52
Whose Rights, Whose Responsibilities?......Page 54
What Kind of Modernization, What Kind of Growth?......Page 55
The Crisis of the Local......Page 59
Consumer Choice and Collective Well-Being: The Politics of Individual Demands and Public Services......Page 60
Towards a Healthier Debate on Taxation and Public Goods......Page 65
Short-Term Choices, Far-Reaching Risks: Processes to Open Up Long-Term Thinking and Richer Choices......Page 67
Redefining Progress: Towards a Politics of Quality of Life......Page 69
Introduction......Page 71
Environmental Policy: From the ‘Easy’ Issues to the ‘Hard’ Politics of the Environment......Page 74
Facing Environmental Limits: The Nature of Environmental Sustainability......Page 79
Towards Environmental Sustainability in the Economy......Page 85
The Environmental Opportunity: Resource Productivity and the Low Waste–High Value Economy......Page 89
Progress Towards Sustainable Environmental Policies......Page 93
Achievements in the UK and Europe......Page 94
Conclusion: Closing the Environmental Sustainability Gap......Page 95
Introduction......Page 100
The Lessons of Recent Development......Page 101
The Impact and Extent of Poverty......Page 105
Why Poverty and Inequalities Matter......Page 109
Making Progress in Reducing Poverty and Inequality......Page 112
Poverty and Inequality in the UK: New Approaches to Social Exclusion......Page 115
Sustainable Livelihoods: Closing the Poverty Gap......Page 123
Introduction: Towards Sustainable Globalization......Page 126
Globalization as We Know It......Page 127
Trade and Investment......Page 132
The Pressure for Reform......Page 135
Trade and Investment: Institutional Issues......Page 137
Corporate Influence on Trade and Investment......Page 140
Aid......Page 143
International Debt......Page 144
What the Rich World Owes the Poor: The Idea of Ecological Debt......Page 147
Global Justice: Closing the Development Gap......Page 150
Introduction: Sustainability Needs Strong Democracy......Page 152
Restoring Trust and Energy to Democracy......Page 156
New Labour’s Reforms......Page 161
Towards New Forms of Empowerment: Participation and Access to Information......Page 163
‘Community’ and the Renewal of Democracy......Page 167
Strengthening Democracy and Participation at the International Level......Page 168
Conclusion: Closing the Democracy Gaps......Page 170
Conflicts, Security and Sustainability......Page 172
Millennial Conflicts......Page 179
Reasons for Preventive Policy and Humanitarian Intervention: The Moral Imperative......Page 182
Putting Conflict Prevention First......Page 184
Curbing the Trade in Arms: A Vital Part of Conflict Prevention......Page 188
The Last Resort: Military Intervention in Conflicts......Page 189
Arguments for Preventive Security Policy: The Case for Self-Interested Action......Page 192
Migration: Fears and Realities......Page 194
Achievements and Failures in Sustainable Development Policy: Closing the Security Gap......Page 196
Beyond ‘Business as Usual’: Towards a Richer Quality of Life......Page 200
We Know What to Do: We Simply Need to Start Doing It......Page 202
The Global Leadership Gap......Page 204
Closing the Gaps: Programmes for the Transition to Democratic Sustainable Development......Page 205
A Long-Term Programme for a Sustainable World......Page 206
A Short-Term Programme: Action for Earth Summit 2002......Page 209
Conclusion......Page 212
References......Page 213
Real World Member Organizations......Page 225
Index......Page 235