The Library
The sustainable development goals, anthropocentrism and neoliberalism
Tools
Adelman, Sam (2018) The sustainable development goals, anthropocentrism and neoliberalism. In: French, Duncan and Kotzé, Louis, (eds.) Sustainable Development Goals : Law, Theory and Implementation. Cheltenham, Glos ; Northampton, Massachusetts: Edward Elgar, pp. 15-40. ISBN 9781786438751
|
PDF
WRAP-sustainable-development-goals-Anthropocentrism-Adelman-2017.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (576Kb) | Preview |
|
Other (Email to author regarding publication)
RE WRAP Request Change to existing record form submission.msg - Other Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only Download (32Kb) |
Official URL: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/sustainable-developme...
Abstract
This chapter provides an existential critique of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals. With this aim in mind, I interrogate the meaning of sustainability, development and their concatenation in the idea of sustainable development from the Brundtland Commission’s promotion of the concept in Our Common Future in 1987 to its current incarnation as a neoliberal form of green capitalism. My critique is developed in two parts. First, through an analysis of the differences between sustainable development and ecological sustainability. Sustainable development is widely embraced as a process that promotes sustainability despite the history of extractive, ecologically unsustainable economic development that prioritises economic growth over environmental protection. Endless economic growth is not sustainable if it breaches absolute biophysical limits and planetary boundaries, and ignores the rupture of the Earth system in the Anthropocene, the first geological epoch in which the activities of a single species, Homo sapiens, has irreversibly altered the geological structure of the planet.
Item Type: | Book Item | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions |
||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Sustainable development, Economic development, Environmental protection, Neoliberalism | ||||||
Publisher: | Edward Elgar | ||||||
Place of Publication: | Cheltenham, Glos ; Northampton, Massachusetts | ||||||
ISBN: | 9781786438751 | ||||||
Book Title: | Sustainable Development Goals : Law, Theory and Implementation | ||||||
Editor: | French, Duncan and Kotzé, Louis | ||||||
Official Date: | October 2018 | ||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||
Number of Pages: | 336 | ||||||
Page Range: | pp. 15-40 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 18 July 2017 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 21 July 2017 | ||||||
Related URLs: |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year