Public Goods, Civil Society and Sustainability

<p id="p1">This paper proposes a &ldquo;public goods&rdquo; approach to the development of &ldquo;civil society&rdquo; as a foundation for building a sustainable environment. Economists define &ldquo;public goods&rdquo; as goods that cannot be delivered through traditional marketplace mechanisms, su...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor principal: O’Brien, David J.
Formato: Capítulo de libro
Lenguaje:inglés
Publicado: IntechOpen 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/84897
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:<p id="p1">This paper proposes a &ldquo;public goods&rdquo; approach to the development of &ldquo;civil society&rdquo; as a foundation for building a sustainable environment. Economists define &ldquo;public goods&rdquo; as goods that cannot be delivered through traditional marketplace mechanisms, such as fire protection and education. Civil Society organizations also can be viewed as public goods. A central feature of sustainable liberal democracies is the existence of intermediary civil society collective organizations. These organizational units are supported by macro-level governmental institutions under the rationale of providing citizens benefits that cannot be provided by the market or directly by the state. This approach provides an alternative to zero-sum conflicts and leads to compromise solutions that will gain taxpayer support. Research findings from a variety of places provide historical illustrations of the effectiveness of a public goods approach include: (1) the U. S. TVA organizational design during the New Deal and the contemporary cross-party appeal of criminal justice reform; (2) the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community - the forerunner of the European Union&nbsp;&ndash; which provides one-third of its budget for local-level sustainability projects; and (3)&nbsp;the successful vertical integration of smallholder cooperatives in East Africa that encourages sustainable family, community, and national development.</p>
ISBN:978-0-85014-003-3
DOI:10.5772/intechopen.108654