Debating 'Rousseau and Rio' and ideas to inspire a new social contact

Abstract

In a key presentation entitled, Rio, Rousseau and the Social Contract, Mr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) drew parallels between the Rio Summit agenda and Rousseau’s values of a socially cohesive community guaranteeing social autonomy as reflected in his seminal work - The Social Contract. Elaborating extensively on current trends in ageing and Africa’s booming youthful population, he said Africa’s young people have the potential to expand the continent’s productive work force, promote job creation and entrepreneurship and harness the enormous resources that the continent is endowed with. Lopes, pointed out that the Rio rationale twenty years ago is not radically dissimilar to the Rousseauian ideal of freedom and justice and the need for a participatory form of democracy “that becomes the model of choice.” He concluded that with the potential of the continent to become an economic powerhouse due to current significant increases in GDP rates, “a new social contract that will keep growth rates steady and equitable, and inspire new found confidence in the youth will enable the continent to actively pursue its “sprint” to transformational development.”