Growth and development: critique and prospects

The focus of the 2007 Rossi-Doria Lecture is on the present state of what has been christened as “turbocapitalism”, in the twofold sense of its power and turbulence. The present stage is marked by two contrasting trends: expansion of the growth of the capitalistic West to the entire world economy, and, at the same time, the emergence of severe disequilibria threatening the very sustainability of capitalism. If, given this state of affairs, the aim is to conserve the vital impetus that capitalism has brought to human history, then there are three major forces driving towards unsustainability that need to be addressed, respectively of a physical-environmental, political-social and ethical-moral nature. In order to respond to this threefold challenge the need is to move towards a new model, based on three principles: equilibrium with nature, achievement of an econ-omy organised on the basis of solidarity and cooperation rather than competitiveness, and reversal between means and ends of the ultimate aim of human activity