Toward Sustainable Societal Development

Abstract

Third World cultures are generally incompatible with a globalized economy; they belong to a different era whose time has come and gone. If left alone, most developing countries would not be able to make adequate sociocultural and economic change to grow and free their peoples from poverty and need any time soon. Meanwhile, the economic, financial, and international challenges facing the rich nations are consuming their energies and undermining their capacities to provide the kind of assistance poor nations need and expect. A societal development strategy, therefore, needs to be devised to meet the needs of every developing nation and enable them to overcome the major obstacles that hinder change and retard progress. Since obstacles facing nations are not the same, and cultures vary from one place to another, each nation should be viewed as a special case.