ABSTRACT
The ideology of development has, for decades, formed the foundation of much of our thinking about the present and future state of humankind. As a process whereby the human condition is improved through more effective use of resources—environmental, social, economic and political—it has generally been interpreted as advantageous. All peoples, it is assumed, should strive for development and in the process should be able to reap lasting benefits for themselves and for their children. Growing evidence of resource depletion and misuse in the development cause—land degradation, the pollution of waterways, the overuse of non-renewable resources—and of the increasing width of the gap between rich and poor nations and wealthy and poverty-stricken individuals has led many people to question this assumption. Nevertheless most people in the industrialised and industrialising world still perceive that the advantages gained through increasing material wealth far outweigh such disadvantages.
