Author:
Group of Lisbon.
Imprint:Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, c1995.
Descriptionxxi, 167 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (p. [145]-157) and index.
Note:"This stimulating cross-disciplinary collective study by 19 social analysts from nine countries seeks to determine whether competition is the best method for coping with global demographic, environmental, economic, and social problems, and if not, what can replace it. The Group of Lisbon concludes that excessive competition ignores socioeconomic inequalities within and among nations, damages the global life-support systems, and concentrates power in large multiterritorial economic units and communication networks. What can be done? The Group urges a system of regional private, institutional, and governmental cooperation, stressing global "existence needs" (e.g., food, shelter) and "co-existence needs" (e.g., information, democracy), and using clear, concrete operational targets to achieve each of them. Regional cooperation and limited competition would still exist, but only if subservient to global democratic cooperation. The new social contracts on which this global cooperative governance system is based include removal of inequalities, tolerance of diverse cultures, use of sustainable development, and guidance by democratic global citizens' assemblies." -- Choice review
