PCDForum COLUMNS
Column #75: Peggy Antrobus, "Third World Women Challenge the
Given." The
international women’s movement, led by Third World women, is mobilizing to
take on the global economy as a feminist issue.
Column
#76: Robert D. Putnam,
"Social Capital." Reports findings of a study of regional governments in Italy demonstrating how
civic sector organizations build a strong social fabric and why the resulting
social capital is important to the performance of governments and economies.
Column #77: Smitu Kothari, "Development Displacement: Whose Nation Is
It?" The first test of development project worthiness should be whether it
will improve the lives of the weakest of the people living in the project area.
Column
#78: Antonio B. Quizon, "Multilateral Banks: Who’s the Real
Boss?" The first goal in reforming the multilateral banks is to establish
their public accountability for the consequences of their lending.
PCDForum ARTICLES
Article #10r: David C. Korten, "Building Citizens’ Agendas. A
far right agenda of economic restructuring to favor corporate interests is
falsely portrayed as populist when in fact it strongly favors corporate
interests and undercuts exactly those things people want most. Citizen groups
around the world are responding by developing citizen agendas as the foundation
of a true populist political movement.
Article #11: Noeleen Heyzer, "A Women’s Development Agenda for the
21st Century." As the new head of UNIFEM, Noeleen Heyzer announces
a major UNIFEM policy initiative in support of efforts by the women’s movement
to define an inclusive human agenda for the 21st century as the foundation of
just, sustainable, and gender equitable societies.
Article #12r: David C. Korten, "Habitat II: Preparing for the 3rd
Millennium." The UN Habitat II summit to be held in Istanbul in June 1996
is an opportunity for citizen groups to bring forward their visions of the kinds
of societies they want for themselves and their children for the 21st century
and the 3rd millennium. An earlier version of this article has been published as
"Habitat II: Preparing for the 21st Century."
Article #13: David C. Korten, "Help the Poor and Save the Environment:
Eliminate Debt and End Foreign Aid." International debt and conventional
forms of foreign aid increase the international economic dependence that is
deepening injustice and unsustainability. It is possible to take steep cuts in
foreign aid budgets and at the same time benefit both the poor and the
environment.
Article #14: Frances F. Korten, "Environmental Lending May be Harmful
to the Environment." A case study of Asian Development Bank forestry
lending in the Philippines demonstrates that while environmental lending is one
way to provide low income countries with unearned foreign exchange for
non-essential purposes in the short-term, it is not an appropriate mechanism for
dealing with environmental problems.
PCDForum PAPERS
David C. Korten, "Sustainability
and the Global Economy: Beyond Bretton Woods." Opening
Plenary presentation to the Environmental Grantmakers Association at the Mount
Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods on the fifth anniversary of the historic
meeting that created the World Bank and the IMF to advance a vision of economic
growth and globalization. The underlying flaws of that vision are examined with
special attention to how the power to govern has shifted from governments to
global corporations and a financial system that is running out of control and
creating dangerous economic and social instability.
RESOURCE MATERIALS
The Council of Canadians, "The Citizens’ Agenda for Canada." Presents interim results from a broadly participatory citizen agenda building
initiative through which ordinary Canadians are defining the kind of society
they want for themselves and their children. This Canadian initiative is
attracting the attention of groups around the world interested in carrying out
similar efforts in their own countries.
North American Consultation, "Principles of
Sustainable Livelihoods." The employment crisis cannot be
resolved through conventional job creation. It is time to redefine the problem
in terms of livelihoods. Participants in the North American Consultation on
Sustainable Livelihoods organized by the Society for International Development,
the International Development Conference, the Center for Respect of Life and
Environment, and the PCDForum produced this statement of principles for a
sustainable livelihoods economy.
"The Copenhagen Alternative Declaration." Produced by civil
society organizations at the Social Summit, it rejects the official declaration
on the ground that the neoliberal model it embraces is the cause of the problems
it presumes to resolve.
"Our Cities, Our Homes." A declaration issued by the Asia Pacific
Regional NGO Consultation in preparation for Habitat II. It articulates a
citizen vision for the creation of socially just, ecologically sustainable,
politically participatory, economically productive, and culturally vibrant
communities.
"What’s
Ahead for the World Bank? The Big Picture." An interview with David C. Korten by Robert
Wright for a study of the World Bank’s role in sustainable development
commissioned by the C.S. Mott Foundation. It develops the argument for why the
multilateral development banks should be closed rather than reformed.
David C. Korten, "A Not
So Radical Agenda for a Sustainable Future." Takes a step toward operationalizing the agenda for transformational change and
observes that though the actions proposed require a radical departure from
prevailing policy prescriptions, they are grounded in a basic common sense logic
that is rapidly gaining adherents from the political mainstream. Suggests that
the rediscovery of spiritual values is central to a transformational politics.