Rationale

Slovenia as well as other communities in the globalised World urgently need new approaches to address global and local challenges and to develop sustainable economies and societies. Modern economics, from the perspective of many societies, has failed, and thus has economic development to a large extent. The crisis that southern and eastern Europe especially faces today is the result of a narrowly base economic approach which is in effect a combination of western and northern Anglo-Saxon and respective German economic models. It has been shown that this partial economic model does not work in Southern Europe in particular. A number of problems are also reflected in Western and Northern Europe (cf: Mark Blyth, Austerity: History of a Dangerous Idea). Therefore, austerity interventions, without measures to transcend the traditional concepts of growth towards holistic development, all too often do not work. An integral economic approach is needed drawing on the best, in theory and practice, of the north and west, south and east, thereby contesting an overwhelmingly forceful mainstream paradigm. The integral theory of economics, building on these models, has evolved over decades at the Center for Integral Development Tran4m in Geneva (Prof. Ronnie Lessem, Prof. Alexander Schieffer): towards a viable integral economic perspective that works dynamically with the richness and diversity of the whole variety of economic Approaches of all Four Worlds and the Center (culturally and archetypally), and by building on the inner foundations of each living system (e.g. Nature & Community in the South).

 

The Integral Worlds Approach is a new transcultural and transdiciplinary orientation towards social and economic transformation, claiming that every social system needs to find, in order to be and stay sustainable, a dynamic balance between its four mutually reinforcing and interdependent ‘worlds’ (South: the realm of nature and community; East: culture and spirituality; North: science and technology; West: finance and enterprise) and its ‘center’ (the moral core). In Integral Economy, an overriding economic theme can be found in each of the four realms:

·         The ‘southern’ natural and communal realm promotes the self-sufficient community-based economy (e.g. Sentrupert Municipality in Slovenia; Chinyika, Zimbabwe; Grameen Bank, Bangladesh; SEKEM Initiative, Egypt).

·         The ‘eastern’ cultural and spiritual realm promotes a developmental culture-based economy (e.g. Biotechnical Centre Naklo in Slovenia; Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka).

·         The ‘northern’ scientific and technological realm promotes a social knowledge based economy (e.g. Gorenje Group in Slovenia; Mondragon Cooperatives, Spain).

·         The ‘western’ realm was promoted in the past through a neoliberal market economy; but below the surface can be seen the gradual emergence of a “living” life-based economic realm – which is basically a creative revisiting of the Anglo-Saxon economic model with a strong focus on ecology and sustainability (e.g. Group Jelovica, Slovenia; Interface, USA.

·         The moral economic core is related to the innermost value base to be found in each society which is either related a religious and/or secular, humanist articulation of such a value base (e.g. SEKEM Initiative, Egypt).

 

With the practical cases mentioned above, it will be demonstrated that we do not need to start from scratch, but that almost all societies hold locally relevant impulses for economic renewal, on which we can build. Slovenia has already started this process on the level of national policy, i.e., with the draft Strategy for the transition to a Low-Carbon Society by 2050, Strategy for the Development of Slovenia’s Tourism 2012-2016, Slovenian Industrial Policy 2014-2020, draft Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, the draft Slovenia’s Developmental Strategy and Partnership Agreement 2014-2020. Based on the findings about the possibilities for the implementation of a model of integral economy in Slovenia, unveiled during the conferences on Integral Green Slovenia (enabled by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment between May 21 – 24), Trans4m presented a comprehensive proposal for an Integral Green Slovenian Economy (IGSE) that has already been partially included in the programming documents for the 2014-2020 period. Such a path out of the crisis is in line with the EU 2020 Strategy - a strategy of smart, green and inclusive growth, while taking into account the important concepts, supported by EU policies (e.g. the green economy, social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, smart specialisation, lead market, ...).