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emphases on social justice, social inequality, and human rights issues
(Elliott, 2006). In short, disciplinary perspectives hinder our pursuit of
answers to sustainability questions and concerns that are inherently
interdisciplinary in nature. Wolfgang Sachs (1993) would argue that
there can be no sustainability without development, and echoes the eco-
logical economist Herman Daly's ideas on this necessary nexus, if sus-
tainability is to be sought, assessed, people-directed, and attained (Daly,
1973; 1996).
A final ambiguity that results from the diversity in approaches to
sustainability - as ecological environmentalism or human, people-centred
development, or both interacting as a merged concept - comes about
because of the persuasive, indirect 'soft-influences' that neoliberal
thinking cultivates among contemporary policymakers. Sachs depicts
this co-opted discourse as follows:
Once, environmentalists called for new public virtues, now they call for bet-
ter managerial strategies. Once, they advocated more democracy and
local self-reliance, now they tend to support the global empowerment of
governments, corporations and science. Once, they strove for cultural
diversity, now they see little choice but to push for a worldwide rationaliza-
tion of life styles … In recent years, a discourse on global ecology has
developed that is largely devoid of any considerations of power relations,
cultural authenticity and moral choice; instead, it rather promotes the aspi-
rations of a rising eco-cracy to manage nature and regulate people world-
wide. (1993, xv)
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Development Ethics and a People-centred
Global Agenda
According to Denis Goulet (1996), the originator of the new discipline
of 'development ethics', his enlightened vision for a much fairer future
derives from a convergence of socially just ideas and practices.
Succinctly, civil society's engagement in development action needs to
build upon ethical theory so that our thinking can move beyond cri-
tiques of mainstream ethical theory to the crafting of normative strat-
egies to guide development practice. In Goulet's words, 'Development
ethics has a dual mission: to render the economy more human and to
keep hope alive in the face of the seemingly impossibility of achieving
human development for all' (1996: ii). He further refines his view that
'the true indicator of development is not increased production or mat-
erial wellbeing but qualitative human enrichment'. Borrowing from
one of Marx's insights Goulet then acclaims that: 'The beginning of
