A Quest for a Theory of Sustainable Development

The world leaders and policy makers have at last accepted the notion of sustainable development. The prolific legal, institutional, social, technological and economic measures that are currently in vogue are testimony to the all-pervasive nature of this concept. No human being on earth has been left untouched by the notion of sustainable development. However, there is a genuine despair among many that very little “real” progress has been made since the Brundtland Report (1987). The ecological imbalance continues on while economic development is pursued. This needs to be redressed. This paper suggests that the fundamental reason for such a despair is that the concept of sustainable development has been considered along similar lines with growth and development. The paper advocates a need for constructing a “standalone” theory of sustainable development which is independent of past theories of growth and development. The paper then examines certain salient aspects of sustainable development to identify the elements necessary for constructing a theory of sustainable development.