Is sustainable development compatible with present globalisation?
The Chinese Case TAKIS FOTOPOULOS Qingzhi Huans paper on the ecological impact of Chinese growth is an insightful and very informed analysis of the environmental policies followed by the Chinese political elite in the last three decades a topic on which very little knowledge is available in the West. The crucial issue, which is implicitly raised by the paper, is whether sustainable development is compatible with the present internationalised market economy. To answer this question we have first to clarify the meaning of the terms internationalised market economy and sustainable development and then discuss the nature of the present Chinese economy in relation to the internationalised market economy and the sustainability of its economic growth. The Internationalised Market Economy As I tried to show in the article on the present economic crisis,[1] the present opening and liberalising of markets was part of a historical trend[2] (which has been set in motion by the elites controlling t
