The responsibility for sustainable development at the national level – that is, for the complex mosaic made up of economic, social, political, cultural and ecological components that must be put together under a specific set of conditions – lies first and foremost with the countries concerned. Any improvement in the people's quality of life has to begin and be maintained “at home”. Of course, a favorable economic environment and fair conditions of competition and trade will make a country's efforts to that end easier, but “outside” players can only support and facilitate sustainable development – they cannot replace a country's own endeavors. Its economic, social and political fabric is of decisive importance for a country's success in developing itself. That fabric depends, above all, on the nature of the development policy that the country has chosen to follow as well as on the quality of its government and authorities.
Various developing countries which are quite comparable in terms of their natural resources (land, water, arable soil, minerals, climate etc.) and social structures have over the past thirty years shown strikingly differing records of economic and social progress. Measured by the criteria of child mortality, life expectancy and literacy – the key indicators of quality of life – some countries have made considerably greater progress than others, even though they all operate in the same world economic environment and have comparable colonial pasts. This shows that historical burdens, adverse international economic conditions such as falling raw material prices or other external factors, though important, do not have a decisive impact on the achievement of a higher quality of life in the countries concerned. In light of this fact, coupled with the uneasiness caused by irresponsible rulers in a number of countries, the matter of “governance” has come to the forefront of the debate over development policy.
India and China are the two most...