ABSTRACT
This book has examined the politics of sustainable development at the end of the twentieth century. Where will it lead us in the twenty-first century? In this Chapter I want to look ahead, to 2020 and beyond, and try to envisage a future which makes new demands on the global environment and on the European Union. Will the European idea survive the next quarter-century? Will it be sustainable? What will our children and grandchildren make of our attempts to operationalize sustainable development? Is European unity the next ‘big idea’ or is sustainable development just such an idea? Do we need utopian visions to provide a contrast between the way we live now and the way we might live? Did history ‘end’ in 1989, with the collapse of communism, or is it only beginning? Might sustainable development actually mark the beginning of history rather than its end?
