ABSTRACT
As we approach the new century, it has become increasingly clear that the model of economic and social progress which has dominated the second half of the present one no longer works. The problems of environmental degradation, global poverty and domestic inequality have begun to threaten, even to overwhelm, the gains which have been made. At risk is the security of nations and the quality of human life – even for those who are the apparent beneficiaries of progress. As we have tried to show in this book, the failure of the model lies not just in the existence of these problems, or even their increase. It lies in the way in which current patterns of economic growth, based on the expansion of market forces, are themselves their cause. The model is ultimately self-defeating.
