The Challenge of Climate Change
January 12, 2015
January 9, 2015
Responding To: Georgetown Faculty on the Greatest Development Challenge of the Next Decade
Competing Development Challenges?
Gearing up to write a piece arguing for the greatest development for the next decade, I put the challenge to my dinner companions: a diverse group steeped in development lore and practice. “The environment,” said one. His argument: unless the grave threats to climate and environment are addressed, nothing else matters. “Governance and especially ending corruption," said the second. For her, the capacity to lead and guide societies ethically and effectively, in today’s dynamic world, counts more than ever before, and makes the difference between success and failure. “Poverty,” said a third, cryptically. The misery of the very poor in a world where wealth is within grasp will boil over and destroy the rest if not addressed. Worse, its presence when remedies are known undermines society’s very moral fiber. And it is linked to the basic imperatives of security and social cohesion. “It has to be education,” chimed in a fourth. Education offers the path to human flourishing and human rights, opening opportunities. That, after all, is the true end. Plus science and technology are the crux of change and that depends on raising levels of skills and knowledge.
“No, bring decent health care to all," the health expert responded indignantly. “Why, children can’t even make it to school and stay awake if they are sick.” Then the economist chimed in: “forget everything else if there is no economic growth." Economic growth is the central means, he argued, because it creates jobs and resources that can drive human development. Yes, inequality is a problem and shared growth is obviously what we seek, but growth there must be. My final companion indignantly rejected the question because, she growled, it falsely suggested a single simple path and smacked of cultural and intellectual arrogance.
Arguments wove back and forth. What about Egypt’s travails? The heartening visions of Bhutan? The challenge of China? Costa Rica’s jettisoning of its army? The vitality of Africa? But, notwithstanding the firmly held convictions that each truly had the right answer, the uncomfortable truth is that all the contestants are right. Development is about life in all its facets. Still more, it is about deliberate collective efforts to change lives for the better and bring the good we know is possible to people everywhere. The contestation of the experts, hewing to their chosen discipline and field, is healthy but it also reflects the inevitable complexity of what lies ahead.
Taking the debate a step further, the greatest challenge may be to find ways to listen more carefully and thoughtfully to different ways of seeing the development challenge, indeed asking what development means and who has the authority to define and decide. And, beyond that task of listening and digesting, there is no option but to weave together the different strands, imperatives, and priorities if there is to be a true movement for development in all its finest colors.
Katherine Marshall is a visiting professor in the School of Foreign Service, a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, and the executive director of the World Faiths Development Dialogue.
Other Responses
The Task Ahead: Shared Human Values
John Kline | January 11, 2015
Strategic Collaboration as a Development Challenge
Jessica Kritz | January 10, 2015
The Challenge: Harnessing FDI to Upgrade and Diversity Exports
Theodore Moran | January 7, 2015
The Growing Wealth Divide and Its Implications for National Development
Fathali Moghaddam | January 5, 2015
Migration in the Post-2015 Development Agenda
January 1, 2015
Broke(n) States
Irfan Nooruddin | January 1, 2015