The Copenhagen Summit already foresaw the problems that the rapidly globalizing economy would provoke if not accompanied by a renewed attention to the social dimension of economic development. Today the world suffers from the unhinging, in greater or lesser degree, of social development from economic progress. Hence the Copenhagen Declaration and Program of Action continue to be relevant. They indicate the necessary means to overcome marginalization and to create the conditions for all to benefit from economic development.
While the responsibility for social equity lies primarily with individual governments, the international community has the duty to cooperate actively in its implementation, both by creating trade and financial conditions favorable to the growth of all national economies and by rejecting conditionalities that would restrict states from adopting policies aimed at helping the less favored sectors of society, such as the disabled and the elderly. The international community is called to assist states develop such policies, promote a new culture of solidarity and empower the poor to be protagonists of their own development.
And if it is impossible to balance the two?
Education is at the basis of all social policies. The value of education goes beyond economic development and the satisfaction of one’s basic needs. Education enables individuals and peoples to establish with others relationships founded on mutual respect and friendship and not on coercion. An educated society facilitates the fight against corruption that erodes the possibility of economic growth of the poorest. It also helps create a legal framework that leaves ample space to the rights of property and free enterprise, while safeguarding at the same time the full enjoyment of the social and economic rights of all without exception.
What sort of education is he talking about here? How is this different from the stuff that liberals put forth with regard to economic development?
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