Contradictions between Capitalism and Sustainable Human Development: Where is the 2030 Agenda Headed?

ABSTRACT

This article aims to analyse the basic premises of the theory of sustainable human development as it is based on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and contrast it with the theoretical and political proposals of capitalism. With this purpose, in the first place, the work studies the central elements of development theory, as well as the basic premises that support the capitalist model. Secondly, the article compares the essential contradictions between both theoretical proposals, as well as the invisibility of these contradictions in the 2030 Agenda. The article concludes that the foundational ideas of capitalism, as well as the policies derived from these conceptions, are essentially opposed to the theory and practice of sustainable human development and that this is the real limit to advance in the 2030 Agenda.

KEYWORDS:

• Human development
• sustainability
• capitalism
• 2030 Agenda

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research in this paper was funded by the project “Articulating Global Agendas and National Agendas: the process of implementing the 2030 Agenda in Europe and Latin America” (PID2019-104967RB-I00) financed by Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (National Plan for R+D+i) the Spanish State Research Agency and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).