The original critical guide to key concepts in development studies from some of the world's most eminent critical development scholars and practitioners. Each essay in this now classic collection examines one key development concept, from the ‘environment’ to ‘needs’ and ‘progress’ to ‘production’. Each concept is reviewed from a historical and anthropological point of view, with particular bias and intellectual flaws being highlighted. Overall, the authors argue that we must bid farewell to the whole idea of Eurocentric development in order to liberate people’s minds in both North and South and to mobilize for bold responses to the environmental and ethical challenges now confronting humanity. The result is an indispensable resource for scholars, practitioners, movements and students of development which invites us to recognize the tinted glasses we put on whenever we participate in the development discourse.

The original critical guide to key concepts in development studies from some of the world's most eminent critical development scholars and practitioners. Each essay in this now classic collection examines one key development concept, from the 'environment' to 'needs' and 'progress' to 'production'. Each concept is reviewed from a historical and anthropological point of view, with particular bias and intellectual flaws being highlighted. Overall, the authors argue that we must bid farewell to the whole idea of Eurocentric development in order to liberate people's minds in both North and South and to mobilize for bold responses to the environmental and ethical challenges now confronting humanity. The result is an indispensable resource for scholars, practitioners, movements and students of development which invites us to recognize the tinted glasses we put on whenever we participate in the development discourse.

Fruher forderten die Umweltschutzer neue gesellschaftliche Tugen- den. Heute rufen sie nach besseren Managementstrategien. Fruher drangten sie auf mehr Demokratie und lokale Eigenstandigkeit, doch jetzt liebaugeln sie mit einer globalen Machtergreifung durch Regierungen, Konzerne und die Wissenschaft. Es ist lange her, dass sie sich fur kulturelle Vielfalt einsetzten, inzwischen sehen sie kaum eine andere Moeglichkeit, als auf eine weltweite Rationalisierung der Lebensstile zu bauen. Tatsachlich scheinen in dem Masse, wie im- mer haufiger Umweltthemen auf der Tagesordnung der internatio- nalen Politik einen wichtigen Platz einnehmen, Teile der Umwelt- bewegung zahmer zu werden. So hat sich in den letzten Jahren ein Diskurs uber globale Umweltpolitik eingespielt, der Betrachtungen uber Macht, Kultur oder Moral nicht zulasst und statt dessen die Bestrebungen einer aufsteigenden OEkokratie verrat, die Natur (und die Menschen dazu) wohlwollender Planung zu unterwerfen. Eine Bewegung, die einst die Menschen zur Demut mahnte, hat parado- xerweise Experten hervorgebracht, die der Versuchung zum Hoch- mut oft nicht widerstehen koennen. Verschiedene Beobachter hatten verschiedene Meinungen uber die UN -Konferenz fur Umwelt und Entwicklung (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro 1992. Einige sahen in ihr einen Erfolg, viele betrachteten sie wenigstens als einen befriedigenden Auftakt fur eine lange Reise, und ein paar beurteilten sie als Fehlschlag. Es macht gewiss die Neuheit von Rio aus, dass die Regierungen der Welt zum ersten Mal gemeinsam die Bedrohung durch die oekologische Krise ernst nahmen und sich dazu bereit fanden, kollektive Verpflichtungen fur den zukunftigen Kurs der Politik einzugehen.

In his cultural analysis of the motor car in Germany, Wolfgang Sachs starts from the assumption that the automobile is more than a means of transportation and that its history cannot be understood merely as a triumphant march of technological innovation. Instead, Sachs examines the history of the automobile from the late 1880s until today for evidence on the nature of dreams and desires embedded in modern culture. Written in a lively style and illustrated by a wealth of cartoons, advertisements, newspaper stories, and propaganda, this book explores the nature of Germany's love affair with the automobile. A "history of our desires" for speed, wealth, violence, glamour, progress, and power--as refracted through images of the automobile--it is at once fascinating and provocative.
Sachs recounts the development of the automobile industry and the impact on German society of the marketing and promotion of the motor car. As cars became more affordable and more common after World War II, advertisers fanned the competition for status, refining their techniques as ownership became ever more widespread.
Sachs concludes by demonstrating that the triumphal procession of private motorization has in fact become an intrusion. The grand dreams once attached to the automobile have aged. Sachs appeals for the cultivation of new dreams born of the futility of the old ones, dreams of "a society liberated from progress," in which location, distance, and speed are reconceived in more appropriately humane dimensions.

The original critical guide to key concepts in development studies from some of the world's most eminent critical development scholars and practitioners. Each essay in this now classic collection examines one key development concept, from the 'environment' to 'needs' and 'progress' to 'production'. Each concept is reviewed from a historical and anthropological point of view, with particular bias and intellectual flaws being highlighted. Overall, the authors argue that we must bid farewell to the whole idea of Eurocentric development in order to liberate people's minds in both North and South and to mobilize for bold responses to the environmental and ethical challenges now confronting humanity. The result is an indispensable resource for scholars, practitioners, movements and students of development which invites us to recognize the tinted glasses we put on whenever we participate in the development discourse.

All effects of human action will inevitably be played out within our planet's limits; any hope of infinity is an illusion. And yet, as Wolfgang Sachs warned almost twenty years ago, environmental concerns have been assimilated into the rhetoric, dynamics and power structures of development. This classic collection of trenchant and elegant explorations addresses the crisis of the Western world's relations with nature and social justice. Examining the notions of efficiency, speed, globalization and development, Sachs shows that sustainability, truly conceived, is incompatible with the worldwide rule of economism. Planet Dialectics reveals that the Western development model is fundamentally at odds with both the quest for justice among the world's people and the aspiration to reconcile humanity and nature.

'The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not enough for everyone's greed.' Mahatma Gandhi Oil crisis, water conflicts, declining food security - we hear one report after another about resource scarcity - while with growing populations and huge poverty, nations are demanding their right to development. In the age of globalization this right cannot be disputed, yet the planet is already exhibiting signs of acute environmental stress. Indians want more roads and Chinese more oil: the struggle over nature will partly shape the crises of the twenty-first century. Clashes over resources, both major and minor, are often the unseen factor behind chaos and violence and it is vital to start thinking about how the distribution of resources can be made more just. This book, written by specialists from the internationally renowned Wuppertal Institute, provides an account of what is involved in the resource conflicts of today and tomorrow. It puts forwards perspectives for resource justice and outlines a global economic and environmental policy equally committed to nature and to humanity. This new work, rich in analysis and information, offers a compass to anyone looking for ways in which global society might face the challenge of the future.

Behind the public's hope of effective action by governments on environmental issues lies a complex terrain of conceptual confusion, conflicts of interest and philosophical dispute. This is why some of the world's leading environmental thinkers have come together in this volume to probe critically the new language being developed by environmental professionals. They examine the contradictions inherent in the fashionable notion of sustainable development. They explore the emerging conflicts over the distribution of environmental risks between North and South. And they warn that 'global ecology' seen in a managerial perspective, may degenerate into an effor to redesign and manage Nature in order to keep economic growth going in the face of a rising tide of resource plunder and pollution. This book seeks to launch a critical debate in order to clarify the issues involves and what might constitute appropriate action.