PCDForum Column #17, Release Date August 15, 1991
by James Robertson
Citizen movements throughout the world are discovering the extent to which
our collective social and environmental crisis stems directly from outmoded
economic policies and perspectives seriously in conflict with the needs of a
democratic, post-European, sustainable one-world economy. This realization has
given birth to an international citizen coalition, the […]
PCDForum Column #15, Release Date July 1, 1991
by Luis Lopezllera Méndez
A crisis in the Middle East has produced the most recent, and one of the
most blatant, of a long series of shameful acts of the powerful–the Persian
Gulf War. In Latin America, where the Western democracies have long nurtured
those dictators willing to serve their economic […]
PCDForum Column #11 Release Date April 12, 1991
by David C. Korten
A few years ago a major multi-agency study of foreign aid
observed that from two-thirds to three-fourths of development projects funded by official foreign donors are judged
by the donor to be satisfactory at the time project implementation is completed and the donor withdraws. Only
rarely do donors […]
PCDForum Column #10 Release Date March 4, 1991
by Ron Léger
Humankind has made extraordinary advances in the past
few decades in science and technology, and in its ability
to tap the riches of Earth’s ecology. These advances allow
a few of us to live in a style that once would have been the
envy of kings and queens. Unfortunately, however, […]
PCDForum Column #9 Release Date March 1, 1991
by David C. Korten
As voluntary organizations around the world re-examine
their development roles and accept a greater responsibility
for reshaping development policies, they are confronting
a harsh reality. Not only is our existing political leadership
failing to acknowledge the true nature of our global crisis,
it is actively and aggressively committing us to […]
December 3, 1991
David C. Korten
The People-Centered Development Forum
The world’s official development institutions are currently pursuing policies
based on invalid assumptions about
economic growth, a globalized world
economy, and international assistance.
These policies are the antithesis of
those appropriate to sustainable development. Our new orientation must
recognize that the current level of
human economic activity has filled the
earth’s available ecological space.
Further improvements […]
PCDForum Column #25, Release date December 5, 1991
by Janet Hunt
Behind the current debate on environment and development
lies a basic question. What kind of development? While the
world’s governments seem studiously committed to not
asking, I believe that responsible nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with environmental and social
issues must raise this question publicly and call for honest
debate. Indeed growing […]
PCDForum Column #23 Release date December 1, 1991
by David C. Korten
From October 14-17, 1991, the directors of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met in
Bangkok, Thailand’s elegant international conference
center to set the future directions of the global economy.
Many enthusiastically pointed to Thailand as demonstrating
the success of the export-led growth model based on
opening national […]
PCDForum Column #21 Release date December 1, 1991
by Smitu Kothari
Many foreign assistance agencies have recently proclaimed new commitments to
the environment and to democratization. These are essential priorities of the
1990s, but to date only a minuscule percentage of assistance from Japan, the
United States, Western Europe, the Soviet Union and the multilateral agencies
has enhanced environmental sustainability […]
PCDForum Column #19, Release Date August 15, 1991
by Florencio "Butch" Abad
Many of us in the Philippine NGO sector currently find ourselves in a state
of transition in our relationship to national electoral processes. The context
of that transition is a political tug-of-war between the old oligarchic politics
of elite privilege and a new politics of social justice […]