Market, Regulation and Sustainability

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/polipers.14.2.0013
• Pages: 13-34
• Published date: 01 January 2017
• Date: 01 January 2017
• Author: Naheed Zia Khan

[13]

Market, Regulation and

Sustainability

Naheed Zia Khan



Abstract

[The argument of this study is philosophically rooted in the paradoxical Grand Design.

The destiny of humankind, at all leve ls of existence and organization, is to optimally

resolve omnipotent paradoxes in the universe of tangible as well as intangible

phenomena. However, the instinctive behavior of t he majority of humankind

inherently favor s shortsighted suboptimal resolutions. This is specifically so in

situations where collective wellbeing and sustainability warrant proactive behavior of

free and independent individuals and groups. The study traces back the genealogy of

contemporary technology and sociology, the two broad realms of human society, and

identifies the market as the central force in technological development and

sociological evolution since the Industrial Revolution. Market hegemony, as one of the

greatest factors, is apprehended to have overwhelmed the collective wisdom and

undermined the individual and group ability to take action in the face of multi -prong

threat to sustainable development , which is a great peril to civilization and society.

Moreover, there is also that wizardly wheel warranting to be incessantly greased with

fast depleting natural resources, many of which, including atmosphere, cannot be

replenished. The study maintains that the species of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens must

appreciate the difference between forward looking progressive moves and the rat

race. It is recommended that u nbridled market powe r should be saddled with

pragmatic regulations, specifically aiming at curbing the magical power of electronic

media in promoting, glamorizing and even sanctifying consumerism which is heedless

as well as headless. – Author.]

Introduction

The core issue as w ell as challenge of sustainable development is the

need for resolution of a paradox in which free market economy itself

warrants regulation. This situation inevitably is p art of the paradoxical

Grand Design where variable is the only constant. Most of the knowledge

of nature uncovered by the humankind is confined to the Earth, the Home

Planet, a small and yet the most significant particle of the infinite

universe. All spe cies begin their life under a strategy predefined by the

nature. However, all but one of the species, the Homo S. Sapiens, also

known as humankin d, has been ordained by the Providence to redefine

the predefined strategy of nature.

 Prof. Dr. Naheed Zia Khan is former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Fatima Jinnah

Women University, Rawalpindi.

Policy Perspectives

[14]

Owing to the capacity to think, along with the ability to take

action, human beings assume for themselves the title of higher organism.

Their superiority, divinely ordained in re lation to other species of

biodiversity, ha s been subjected by the Providence to a tradeoff

demanding workable resolution at all levels of the organization of human

society. This universal as w ell as inevitable tradeoff is between a

weakness and a strength, both unique to the humankind. T he weakness

is their instinctive love of material, broadly categorized as wealth, power

and progeny. The strength, on the other hand, is their love of wisdom.

However, unlike the love of material which is biological, the love of

wisdom is a gift of Providence which is largely proportionate to individual

and collective struggle to ensure personal growth and societal cohesion

respectively.

The central thesis of this paper is to analyze the collective efforts

of humankind to optimally resolve the tradeoff between their two loves,

material and wisdom. It is this struggle which underscores the issues and

challenges of sustainable development. The argument is structured

around four parts. Part I reflects on forces governing the evolutionary

process of human society, followed by Part II , II I and IV, highlighting

sustainability threats to physical environment, economy and society

respectively.

Time Walk

There are more humans than all of the rabbits on Earth. There are

more of us than all the wildebeests, than all the rats, than all the

mice. We are the most numerous mammal on the planet. But

because we're not like rabbits or rats or mice, we have technology,

we have a consumptive appetite, we have a global economy.

David Suzuki

1

Access to capital is the fundamental condition to the existence of all life

on the Home Planet. All but one of the species of biodiversity fulfill their

need for capital in accordance with the predefined strategy of nature. On

the other hand, the most vital force defining evolutionary process of

human society, at all levels of organization, has universally been the

drive for capital accumulation. The original source of all capital owned

by individuals and societies in all spaces and all times has been the

natural capital, which has tangible as well as intangible existence defined

as physic al capital and social capital respectively. The nature provides

only one type of social capital defined as love of progeny to ensure

continuity of the species. However, the conflict of interest over the

1

David Takayoshi Suzuki, a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and

environmental activist.