Copyright (c) 2008 Jackson Kern

It is commonly accepted that the project of sustainable development is conceptually composed of three constituent parts. These parts are (1) environmental sustainability, (2) economic sustainability, and (3) social-political sustainability. The United Nations 2005 World Summit refers to the “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development as environmental protection, economic development and social development. The interdependency of the first two is evident; it is perhaps the greatest challenge of our time to satisfy the needs and wants of burgeoning populations within the binding constraints imposed by our physical environment. But what is this great hoopla about social development and sustainability of politics, and what exactly is its place?

If environmental protection is concerned with the preservation of our natural environment and resources, and economic sustainability is concerned with seeking durable growth solutions therein, then the social-political sphere can be thought of as representative of the more purely human element in the equation. Social development and social-political sustainability are intimately related concepts but they are not in fact entirely interchangeable. It is important that we understand their symbiotic relationship and its implications for the broader sustainability project.

Social development is a concept that is familiar to most of us in its many and varying forms. Within any given society there are opportunities to improve and enrich each of its composite parts in many ways. Of sometimes greater importance is the need to harmonize relations amongst these various and sometimes opposing elements. Those actively engaged in the process of social development include agents acting within its institutions to effect change via established channels. Of more notice, however, are often those who act from the outside, those who reject the society’s institutions as inadequate, and who advocate wholesale social and political change as the only true path to social enrichment and development.

It is in this transformational role that we begin to touch on the realm of social-political sustainability. Within any given social context, social development can be pursued with the simple granting of budgets. Financial and human resources are utilized to strengthen and enrich societies by improving educational opportunities, by embracing the marginalized and the forgotten, by making improvements to healthcare and hygienic conditions and by endearing knowledge of financial and entrepreneurial activities to name just a few. Here, the distinguishing feature of social development is that it is executed within the institutional mechanisms and constraints prevailing in that given entity.

Social-political sustainability too is very much concerned with physical and material standing of peoples, but further than this it is concerned with the state of their civil society. Social-political sustainability is differentiated from pure social development in that its sphere is expanded beyond the employment of simply monetary means. Social-political development entails not only the engagement of institutional mechanisms, but also their modification and advancement. Social-political sustainability thus seeks pathways to durable social enrichment and development via the vibrancy and health of a society’s political processes. At its core, there ultimately is little more than an absolute faith in the functioning of liberal democracy. Despite the frequent changing of the guard and the potential for policy discontinuity this entails, it is believed that representative republican government bolstered by mass public awareness and participation provides the best model of a sustainable body politic.

In addition to social policy, environmental and economic policies are clearly dictated in the political realm as well. It is in the creed of the sustainability project to hold that healthy political bodies which are truly representative of the collective will can show us the path forward. Recognition of the strain to our natural environment that unrestrained industrialization and consumption have brought depends upon it.

The French political thinker and historian Alexis de Tocqueville long ago warned Americans that their political structure (and indeed that of all democracies) could fall hostage to a “tyranny of the majority”. To illustrate the weight of these words, consider a scenario in which a pluralistic political majority were unwilling to adopt legislation which combatively addresses climate change issues, while the autocratic but highly environmentalist ruler of another nation prosecuted an aggressive climate change agenda with gusto. In the face of peril, such a situation would revive human moral and ethical dilemmas of the highest order.

Faith in democracy and the ideologies it espouses transcends the purely political arena. In a free and wealthy society, those in the pursuit of scientific truth battle only scientific obstacles. If the danger is real, the truth will be brought to bear. But even in the face of incontrovertible truth, can the titanic inertia of human complacency and comfort be overcome and conquered?

Many scientific and economic authorities now believe that emissions caps are insufficient in the battle against climate change. They call for a massive mobilization of public funds for investment in research with the goal of discovering new low-carbon-emissions technologies, and this on the scale of the Manhattan Project that delivered the first atomic bombs.

We will be watching. This, folks, is nothing less than a test of social-political sustainability in action.

Religion is politics, and politics is a religion. They may differ to some, but they are certainly bedfellows, for they are so closely intertwined that they can be said to be â??as oneâ??.

Religion is very political. Just ask anyone in a religious organization if the people in it are practicing politics. At first they may deny it, as most groups of people in places of worship would like to think that they are above politics, but the honest person will agree, religion is up to its eyeballs in the fog of political maneuvering and micro-mind wars. Wherever people are, there will be politics, and when the two mix so thoroughly that they become almost indistinguishable major wars are the inevitable fruit of that union.

Let us take one of the most famous of the religious figures â?? the man we call Jesus Christ. He had 12 disciples, to which he was their master, or teacher of his philosophy or wisdom — for â??philoâ?? and â??sophiaâ?? are the Greek words for the â??love of wisdomâ??.

When we read from the gospels how his disciples acted towards him and interacted with each other we see that they became political very quickly. They jockeyed for position and power both in the here and now, and for the hereafter, seeking to become the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and the pure wisdom their master had taught them slowly became corrupted — no longer from above, but natural and earthly — and as one apostle has said — demonic.

His group also found contention with other religious-political organizations such as the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees – each a faction within a party, and having their own belief systems and interpretation of scripture, often arguing amongst one another. Not much has changed in over 2000 years.

He and his disciples very quickly found that they were at odds with the most powerful political groups of his time — the controlling powers of Judaism and the controlling powers of Romanism.  Rome believed in the power of Caesar and the Roman Empire, and Judaism in the power of Jehovah and Israel. And, as the story goes, because he opposed them both, they killed him for that opposition. If we are honest about the narrative, we see clearly that those he opposed most virulently instigated the very plot to have him disposed — his own kinsman, and the very â??truthâ?? to which he attested — the Kingdom of Heaven, was also sacrificed on that day.

Throughout the ages religion and politics have caused innumerable conflicts both great and small. The caustic reactions of those who adhere to opposing philosophies have turned the world upside down in all cultures and creeds. Some would argue that this has been a necessary evil and one which over time has brought us to the global civilization we now know, yet one must ask oneâ??s self, â??At what cost?â??

Blood has been spilled enough to flood an ocean basin in the name of religion and politics, and it looks like the spigot will not be shut off any time soon, for wars over religion and politics continue to this day. Brother kills brother over philosophies, and this â??love of wisdomâ?? is quickly turned to the â??love of hateâ??. Leaders of political parties are assassinated, by name and reputation, and even bodily, as in the political assassinations of the 60â??s — losing three great ones — JFK, RFK, and MLK. Only the religious fervor of politics could cause such a thing. Power has no conscience and would crucify any opposition to remain seated.

The more things change, the more they remain the same. Civilization is not so civilized when we see it in this light. The first thing to be sacrificed for the sake of the controlling powers is the very foundation of truth, the â??love of wisdomâ??. The proverbs speak of wisdom as the â??principle thingâ?? — the foremost element, the precious object that should be uppermost in all our minds, and sought with all of our heart.

Without wisdom we are as the brute beasts that prey upon one another, on our way to the eternal grave by way of the dust of the Earth — with wisdom we are as the gods, for we are as â??godsâ?? said Jesus, and with the practice of heavenly wisdom, are on our way to becoming citizens of the kingdom that is above, and as disciples whoâ??s principle goal, said Jesus, is to bring that kingdom to Earth. At this we have failed miserably, in spite of two millennia of his teachings.

It has been said that â??power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutelyâ??. If this be true, then we must at all cost limit the powers of religion and politics, for both are insidious powers, and have been and will continue to be corrupted, and when religion and politics become indistinguishable from one another how complete is that corruption! Such a thing has so great a seed of disaster in it that it can bring a nation to its knees in a few short years.

In less than a decade a great nation has been reduced from prosperity to poverty, and the only wisdom that seems to be produced by those in control is that which is earthly and demonic — selfishness and greed. It is a great evil to see the rich get richer, and the poor poorer on the backs of the very people who believed so fervently the religious and political rhetoric that issued from the marriage of the two.

It is a slap in the face to the very people that Jesus came to die for — the poor — to see the bankrupted rich bailed out and saved from calamity, and the bankrupted poor deeper in disaster and despair. Without faith, hope and vision, a nation may perish — perhaps even

a whole planet of nations.

When this man Jesus finally returns, will he find faith and hope on the Earth? We need a new vision — hopefully one without religion and politics. For the two systems that the powers say we must have to be civilized so far neither has worked out to the advantage of humanity. Jesus, come quickly!

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Do politics and business ever meet? Of course they do, because there is a reciprocal need between the two in every democracy. Politics equals power, but it is nothing without the money it needs to realize it; any business is mainly about money, but it also demands a secure presence, which actually means consorting with power, and thus with politics. Another similarity between the two is that they both require the presence of the citizen, either as customer or as voter. Theoretically, the citizen’s freedom of choice is nearly perfect. But in practice, both business and politics resort to all sorts of techniques to draw their voters or customers, such as the media, celebrity endorsements, movie starts, appeals to passion, sentiment and psychology, and so on, and so forth.

Whether we are talking about marketing, or about electioneering, we can refer to both of them in terms of campaigns. In both business and politics, the battle exceeds any metaphorical level, and the amount of money spent in either of them is rising every year. And all that, just to convince us, voters and customers, that they are worth our attention.

When a business tries to promote a product or a model at a national level, it encounters the same problems and difficulties that a party comes against when attempting to capture several regions. Scale is extremely important, by definition, but that naturally comes with a demand for standardization.

A business that needs security cannot separate itself from politics, because that’s where the power is. Some businesses find it in their own interest to sustain rather close working relationships with politics, because separating the two is almost impossible when you are faced with a reactive situation. Many countries have both public and private traders, which means that keeping your business away from politics is virtually impossible if you want to keep doing business with that country. And the economical prospects and financial benefits are so appealing that the connection between politics and business just doesn’t seem to have any importance.

In the sensitive political regions, the marketplace is subjected to change daily. In fact, the entire international marketplace can change very quickly, from year to year, or even from week to week, which is why companies have to learn how to stay alert to change and have flexible attitudes and approaches. But above that, they have to ensure security for themselves, and what better way to that than to become involved with politics, which ultimately is about power?

On the international marketplace, relationship between politics and business is critically important, and its importance increases as time goes by. As much as any business would like to be poisoned away from politics, this is simply impossible, because behind each government there are political drivers, and the ‘mines’ that appear in front of a certain company or organization are far more numerous and powerful, should it try to detach itself completely from political affairs.

Business and politics interact, whether we like it or not, and they can influence each other in many ways, not all of them bad. For instance, a bad political climate can seriously influence economic growth, but fortunately the process can go the other way, too.

If you want to find more information on different business or politics subjects please visit http://www.articletimesonline.com