Lecture 3

Human Flourishing as Reflected in Progress and

Development

Forget 'developing' poor countries, it's time to 'de-

develop' rich countries
By: Jason Hickel

As the UN’s new sustainable development goals are launched in New York,
there’s little to celebrate about the business-as-usual approach. Recent research
found 70% of people in middle- and high-income countries believe
overconsumption is putting our planet and society at risk. Photograph: Seth
Wenig/Reuters

This week, heads of state are gathering in New York to sign the UN’s new
sustainable development goals (SDGs). The main objective is to eradicate poverty

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by 2030. Beyoncé, One Direction and Malala are on board. It’s set to be a
monumental international celebration.
Given all the fanfare, one might think the SDGs are about to offer a fresh plan for
how to save the world, but beneath all the hype, it’s business as usual. The main
strategy for eradicating poverty is the same: growth.

Growth has been the main object of development for the past 70 years,
despite the fact that it’s not working. Since 1980, the global economy has grown
by 380%, but the number of people living in poverty on less than $5 (£3.20) a day
has increased by more than 1.1 billion. That’s 17 times the population of Britain.
So much for the trickle-down effect.

Orthodox economists insist that all we need is yet more growth. More
progressive types tell us that we need to shift some of the yields of growth from the
richer segments of the population to the poorer ones, evening things out a bit.
Neither approach is adequate. Why? Because even at current levels of average
global consumption, we’re overshooting our planet’s bio-capacity by more than
50% each year.

In other words, growth isn’t an option any more – we’ve already grown too
much. Scientists are now telling us that we’re blowing past planetary boundaries at
breakneck speed. And the hard truth is that this global crisis is due almost entirely
to overconsumption in rich countries.

Right now, our planet only has enough resources for each of us to consume
1.8 “global hectares” annually – a standardised unit that measures resource use and
waste. This figure is roughly what the average person in Ghana or Guatemala
consumes. By contrast, people in the US and Canada consume about 8 hectares per
person, while Europeans consume 4.7 hectares – many times their fair share.

What does this mean for our theory of development? Economist Peter
Edward argues that instead of pushing poorer countries to “catch up” with rich
ones, we should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch down” to more
appropriate levels of development. We should look at societies where people live
long and happy lives at relatively low levels of income and consumption not as
basket cases that need to be developed towards western models, but as exemplars
of efficient living.

How much do we really need to live long and happy lives? In the US, life
expectancy is 79 years and GDP per capita is $53,000. But many countries have
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achieved similar life expectancy with a mere fraction of this income. Cuba has a
comparable life expectancy to the US and one of the highest literacy rates in the
world with GDP per capita of only $6,000 and consumption of only 1.9 hectares –
right at the threshold of ecological sustainability. Similar claims can be made of
Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Tunisia.
Yes, some of the excess income and consumption we see in the rich world yields
improvements in quality of life that are not captured by life expectancy, or even
literacy rates. But even if we look at measures of overall happiness and wellbeing
in addition to life expectancy, a number of low- and middle-income countries rank
highly. Costa Rica manages to sustain one of the highest happiness indicators and
life expectancies in the world with a per capita income one-fourth that of the US.

In light of this, perhaps we should regard such countries not as

underdeveloped, but rather as appropriately developed. And maybe we need to
start calling on rich countries to justify their excesses.

The idea of “de-developing” rich countries might prove to be a strong

rallying cry in the global south, but it will be tricky to sell to westerners. Tricky,
but not impossible. According to recent consumer research, 70% of people in
middle- and high-income countries believe overconsumption is putting our planet
and society at risk. A similar majority also believe we should strive to buy and own
less, and that doing so would not compromise our happiness. People sense there is
something wrong with the dominant model of economic progress and they are
hungry for an alternative narrative.

The problem is that the pundits promoting this kind of transition are using
the wrong language. They use terms such as de-growth, zero growth or – worst of
all – de-development, which are technically accurate but off-putting for anyone
who’s not already on board. Such terms are repulsive because they run against the
deepest frames we use to think about human progress, and, indeed, the purpose of
life itself. It’s like asking people to stop moving positively thorough life, to stop
learning, improving, growing.

Negative formulations won’t get us anywhere. The idea of “steady-state”

economics is a step in the right direction and is growing in popularity, but it still
doesn’t get the framing right. We need to reorient ourselves toward a positive
future, a truer form of progress. One that is geared toward quality instead of
quantity. One that is more sophisticated than just accumulating ever increasing

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amounts of stuff, which doesn’t make anyone happier anyway. What is certain is
that GDP as a measure is not going to get us there and we need to get rid of it.

Perhaps we might take a cue from Latin Americans, who are organising
alternative visions around the indigenous concept of buen vivir, or good living.
The west has its own tradition of reflection on the good life and it’s time we revive
it. Robert and Edward Skidelsky take us down this road in his book How Much is
Enough? where they lay out the possibility of interventions such as banning
advertising, a shorter working week and a basic income, all of which would
improve our lives while reducing consumption.

Either we slow down voluntarily or climate change will do it for us. We

can’t go on ignoring the laws of nature. But rethinking our theory of progress is not
only an ecological imperative, it is also a development one. If we do not act soon,
all our hard-won gains against poverty will evaporate, as food systems collapse and
mass famine re-emerges to an extent not seen since the 19th century.

This is not about giving anything up. And it’s certainly not about living a life
of voluntary misery or imposing harsh limits on human potential. On the contrary,
it’s about reaching a higher level of understanding and consciousness about what
we’re doing here and why.

Jason Hickel is an anthropologist at the London School of Economics. Follow @jasonhickel on

Twitter

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-
network/2015/sep/23/developing-poor-countries-de-develop-rich-countries-sdgs

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 QUESTION FOR REFLECTION

After reading the article, answer the following questions:

1. What is the main objective of the Sustainable Development Goals of the

United Nations?

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2. What is the standardized unit that measures resource use and waste?

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3. What is the standard response to eradicating poverty?

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 4. What is the threshold of the Earth for adequately sustaining life?

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5. According to the majority of people in middle- and high-income countries,

what puts the planet and society at risk?

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6. How many hectares should each of us consume annually based on the

resources available in the planet?

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7. What are the two indicators o the quality of life given in the article?

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 8. What crisis in the planet would force us to slow down if we do not do so
voluntarily?

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9. According to Hickel, what must be done instead of urging poor countries to

“catch up” with rich ones?

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10.How would the different areas of the world react to the idea of “de-
development”?

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