The World Bank, Dams and the Meaning of Sustainable Development in Use
![handle is hein.journals/jilwirl5 and id is 95 raw text is: The World Bank, Dams and the Meaning of
Sustainable Development in Use
SUSAN PARK*
I. Introduction .............................................................................................. 93
II. Constructivism and the Normative Structure of Meaning-in-Use .......97
III. Norm Implementation: The Formal Validity of Sustainable
D evelopm ent...................................................................................................100
IV. Norm Implementation through Social Recognition: The World Bank's
Sustainable D evelopm ent .............................................................................105
V. Furthering Social Recognition through the WCD: Reconstituting
Sustainable Development's Meaning-in-Use? ...........................................111
V I. C onclu sion ................................................................................................121
Our understanding of sustainable development will undoubtedly change over
time as new insights modify, or even redefine, the multilateral consensus.1
I. Introduction
In 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED)
stated that sustainable development aims 'to ensure that it meets the needs
of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.'2 Although there are voluminous and competing
definitions of sustainable development, that of the WCED dominates
* Susan Park is a Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sydney. The author
would like to thank the anonymous referees for their comments.
1 Mukul Sanwal, 'Trends in Global Environmental Governance: The Emergence of a Mutual
Supportiveness Approach to Achieve Sustainable Development' (2004) 4 Global Env. Pol. 16 at
21 [Sanwal].
2 World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987) at 8 [WCED].
© 2009 Journal of International Law and International Relations
Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 93-122. ISSN: 1712-2988.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jilwirl5&div=7&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The World Bank, Dams and the Meaning of Sustainable Development in Use
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