DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: METAMORPHOUS OF THE CONCEPT AND ITS RELATIONS WITH EDUCATJONAL POLICY

Abstract

The present work examines the origin and metamorphous of the concepts of Development and Sustainab/e Oevelopment based on the analysis ofdocuments from national and international agencies concerning the principal theories that influence deve/opment proposals in Latin America and the Caribbean, as we/1 as their implications for educational policy. Even though it can be found in c/assical scientific texts since the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, the concept of development acquires a specific meaning in the context of the "cold war'' leading to the creation of national and international agencies with the purpose of promoting it. ln this sarne movement, theories are elaborated with the intention of finding the causes of economic backwardness as we/1 as ways to overcome it. These theories are related to the great currents of economic and social thinking (Liberalism, Marxism and Structuralism). ln the middle BOs, the concept of social ::mci economic development is substituted by the concept of sustained development. The start of the spread of the concept in international terms occurred with the Informe Brundtland published in 1857. Since then it acquired a special place on the agenda of international organs. And it is the object of intense theoretica/ work by environmental specialists who work with social scientists and economists. These scientists try to articu/ate the idea of development with the eradicalion of misery, lhe improvemenl of the quality of life and of lhe need to preserve lhe environmenl. ln lhis conlexl, educalional policy is included in lhe agenda with the purpose of deve/oping public awareness of satisfying basic needs and scientific and humane education.