Many people today feel that something has gone wrong with British society and British politics. The quality of life seems to be declining. Crime soars. Traffic and pollution spiral. Mass unemployment is undiminished, while many people experience insecurity and stress at work. Growing poverty and inequality have left many of Britains citizens excluded from mainstream society. Everywhere, the sense of community seems to be breaking down.
In the world as a whole, poverty and conflict cause immense suffering and threaten the security of nations. Global environmental degradation from the greenhouse effect to the destruction of rainforests makes the very future of the planet uncertain.
Yet the political system seems barely to register what is happening. It is hardly surprising that public disillusionment with politicians and Parliament has never been higher.
The Politics of the Real World addresses these interlocking crises. Setting out the issues clearly, it explains how conventional economic and social policies are creating the problems we face, not solving them. Arguing that the British political system itself needs rejuvenating, it proposes a new direction for the UK in an increasingly globalised world.
REAL WORLD
is committed to raising the importance of environmental sustainability, social justice in the UK and internationally and democratic renewal in UK political debate.
The Members of the Real World coalition are:
ALARM UK
Birmingham Settlement
Black Environment Network
British Association of Settlements and Social Action Centres
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Catholic Institute for International Relations
Charter 88
Child Poverty Action Group
Christian Aid
Church Action on Poverty
Electoral Reform Society
Employment Policy Institute
Forum for the Future
Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation
lona Community
KAIROS
Media Natura Trust
Medical Action for Global Security (MEDACT)
National Peace Council
Neighbourhood Initiatives Foundation
New Economics Foundation
Oxfam (UK and Ireland)
Pesticides Trust
Population Concern
The Poverty Alliance
Public Health Alliance
Quaker Social Responsibility and Education
Save the Children Fund
Scottish Education and Action for Development (SEAD)
Tools for Self Reliance
Town and Country Planning Association
Transport 2000
Unemployment Unit
United Nations Association
United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
Walter Segal Self Build Trust
Wildlife Trusts
Womens Environmental Network
World Development Movement
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-UK)
and in association with
International Institute for Environment and Development
MICHAEL JACOBS
is and economist and writer whose previous books include The Green Economy (1991). Since 1997 he has been General Secretary of the Fabian Society.
THE POLITICS OF THE REAL WORLD
Meeting the New Century
Michael Jacobs
WRITTEN AND EDITED
FOR THE
Real World
COALITION
First published in the UK 1996 by
Earthscan Publications Limited
For a full list of publications please contact:
Earthscan
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Earthscan
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Earthscan is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright Real World, 1996
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notices
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-85383-350-2 (pbk)
Typesetting by PCS Mapping & DTP, Newcastle upon Tyne
Page design by S&W Design
Cover design by Andrew Corbett
Contents
Real World is a unique coalition of independently constituted UK non-governmental organisations campaigning in one or more of the five policy constituencies of sustainable development:
environmental sustainability,
social justice,
eradication of poverty,
peace and security, and
democratic renewal.
The original impulse for Real World was the failure of the 1992 UK General Election to even address the global problems that prompted the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, never mind the manifestations of them in this country.
At the time, a number of people came together to explore whether it would be possible to establish what would be an unprecedented coalition of UK groups campaigning on the broad sustainability agenda. The objective was to illuminate the intimate causal links between their various concerns, and to argue that it was no longer enough to address one set of issues in isolation. The 1997 General Election was identified as a catalyst for building up a head of steam for this strategy and to carry it forward into the next parliament.
The outcome was that, in the spring of 1996, over 30 organisations launched the Real World Coalition by jointly publishing The Politics of the Real World. The book was written with and for Real World organisations by Michael Jacobs, in order to set out the underpinning argument that there was a logical causal connection between the problems the individual member organisations sought to remedy, and to illustrate it by the witness and experiences of the diverse member organisations in their own fields. It has been a measure of the importance of the Real World initiative that The Politics of the Real World sold over 13,000 copies in a matter of months, and is now endorsed by over 40 organisations.
For this, the books fourth reprint, we felt a new foreword was required. Nearly two years have passed since it was first published, and since then the 1997 General Election brought a Labour government into power in the UK. A new political energy has begun to flow, bringing with it some welcome policy initiatives aimed at some of the key concerns of Real World member organisations. For example, although central government still maintains a tight grip on the brake, it has set out on the road to devolving power, adopting a fairer electoral system, and for the first time ever in this country, protecting human rights in law. Furthermore, the 20 per cent target for reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010 is a welcome and genuinely bold target, putting the UK ahead both in Europe and internationally when it comes to facing up to the urgent reality of climate change.
