Social Development as a Vision of Societies
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Development. Copyright © 2000 The Society for International Development. SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), 1011-6370 (200006) 43:2; 94–96; 013000.
SID On-Line Dialogue
Social Development as a Vision of Societies GÉRARD ROLLAND (CENTRE LEBRET)
ABSTRACT The notion of ‘social development’, as developed by the 1995 Copenhagen Summit, opens new perspectives. It is not necessary to create a new institution or body to be responsible for social development; however, existing UN bodies should function with coherence, interdependence and synergy. In reaffirming the common foundation of universality and the indivisibility of human rights, in rehabilitating political, economic and technological responsibilities, ‘social development’ should enable each society to bring about the dynamics of endogenous development and development from below. KEYWORDS economic globalization; endogenous development; human development; public institutions; social development; solidarity; vision of society
New institutional responses to social development Far from being confined to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the unsuccessful conclusion of the ministerial summit meeting in Seattle raises a fundamental issue for the organizations responsible for managing and where possible regulating the social, health-related, economic and ecological problems . . . of the entire planet. The same problem is posed for representatives of civil society with regard to their presence – or at least the hearing they are given – within the United Nations bodies. It may be that Seattle will be remembered as a symbolic event, but the strong media coverage tended to offer a symbolic caricature. It is portrayed almost as if, on the one hand, the WTO represented an institution conveying a global vision of world society (even though one should not underestimate the sometimes wild claims of neo-liberalism) which had to be challenged in a radical manner; and as if, on the other hand, the coming together of widely disparate NGOs was, in itself, the promise of a homogeneous, coherent and positive vision of society. In reality, however symptomatic and significant, this kind of confrontation can only prove unproductive.
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Rolland: A Vision of Societies This almost surrealist situation highlights the absence of a key idea which the Centre L.-J. Lebret – henceforth mainly within the framework of the MIDEC (Mouvement International Développement et Civilisations) – is committed to promoting: namely, that development must take shape within a vision of society and that is only possible through and within a dynamic current of solidarity-based self-promotion within the various societies of which mankind is composed. From this perspective, the Copenhagen +5 meeting, which would like to serve as a ‘general meeting of initiatives’, may provide a fresh chance after the failure of Seattle. In highly summarized form and with no claim to be exhaustive, we think that this ‘chance’ may be geared towa
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