Die Weltgemeinschaft ist heute mehr denn je mit gewaltigen Herausforderungen konfrontiert. In vielen Regionen der Welt wird diskutiert, welche Entwicklungsparadigmen ethisch verantwortbar, politisch vermittelbar und zugleich nachhaltig sein können. Der Band versammelt Beiträge eines interkulturellen Dialogs über zukünftige Entwicklungsparadigmen. Dieser Dialog wird sowohl auf der konzeptionellen wie auf der praktisch-politischen Ebene geführt, denn die Dringlichkeit der globalen Krisen erfordert ein gemeinsames Nachdenken über alternative Entwicklungsmodelle und ihre politische Umsetzung.

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Michael Reder ist Professor für praktische Philosophie an der Hochschule für Philosophie München. Verena Risse und Katharina Hirschbrunn sind dort wiss. Mitarbeiterinnen. Georg Stoll, Dr. theol., ist Referent für Politik und Globale Zukunftsfragen bei MISEREOR.

I. Systematic Introduction Towards a Just and Ecological Transformation: Methodological Considerations for an Intercultural Research Project Michael Reder, Verena Risse, Katharina Hirschbrunn, and Georg Stoll 1. Starting Point: Global Challenges and the Post-MDG-Agenda The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2000 showed the joint commitment of the UN member states to alleviate poverty and inequality around the world. While several improvements can be noted today, new global challenges call for further action and inform the debate about a Post-MDG development agenda. Two interwoven sets of challenging problems can be discerned: First, increasing social inequality that denies the satisfaction of basic human needs and a life in dignity to a large part of humanity; secondly, increasing environmental degradation resulting from the overuse of natural resources and the planet's depositing capacities. In the light of global challenges such as poverty, hunger and climate change, the contributions of this volume identify concrete ways towards a socially just and sustainable model of civilization. The cause of the different global problems has generally been seen in a combination of structural determinants, in particular the exploitation of non-renewable resources, economic policies focusing narrowly on growth as well as deficient political institutions at the national and the international level. At the same time, the last few years were marked by the intention to integrate those concerned into the process of designing the relevant de-velopment policies. This has led to a focus on the way in which ideas and visions influence development. While alternative notions of social de-velopment-like 'bottom-up development' or approaches taking into ac-count the 'limits to growth'-were niche topics of certain social milieus in the past, they have now become part of mainstream debates and of official political agendas. In Europe, this is visible for instance in the work of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Commission in France and the Enquete Commission "Growth, Prosperity, and Quality of Life" in Germany, which both worked on the question of how to conceptualize welfare without relying on GDP only. In addition, numerous books and conferences deal with new ideas and models for societal prosperity and future development. This trend also shows that development is not a goal that is reserved for the Global South. Rather it is also the societies of the Global North that are defective in various respects and need to undergo processes of transformation. The central question therefore is whether and in what way these discourses in which the norms and values are articulated can actually change social realities. Societies do not only bring forth a plurality of ideas regarding their own constitution and the norms and values that the legal and political institutions should be based on. At the same time, these ideas translate into social practices in diverse ways and yield different practical results. 2. Methodological perspective: Ethical Reflections on the Basis of Existing Social Values and Practices Political strategies that are justified by reference to different values are not only accepted because of an abstract normative reason but because they are incorporated into social life and into heterogeneous cultural practices. Ethical reflections should therefore be closely connected to these practices, so that moral principles are related to social reality and can claim universal validity. Of course, there exist several social practices with different em-bedded moral norms. Therefore, theories in the tradition of Hegel are asking for complementary moral beliefs, because humans are realizing practical coherence between different moral beliefs in their everyday life. This view is following Axel Honneth in his interpretation of Hegel. Honneth argues that our normative reflections should always be connected to a detailed analysis of society including its different social and normative practices. The aim of a critical analysis of society in the tradition of Hegel's philosophy of rights should be "[to analyze] current institutions and prac-tices according to their normative merit" and to show how "their im-portance for the social embodiment and realization of socially legitimate values." (Honneth 2010, 711) By doing so, Honneth argues against a clear distinction between facts and values and against a focus on abstract moral principles. Instead he emphasizes the concrete capability to mutual recog-nition in the Hegelian sphere of Sittlichkeit, which is meant to overcome the gap between individual subjective feelings on the one hand and the context of general rights on the other. Axel Honneth argues that starting ethical reflection from social practices does not imply a necessity to accept all practices. Rather, a critical reconstruction has to analyze and discuss the 'moral' potential of such practices and to ask in what way these practices could be improved in light of the ideas that underlie them. More specifically, an analysis following this model has to focus on what practices can be determined from a view point of a pragmatic approach as theoretically described here. Of course, Hon-neth focuses on societies within their national borders. Yet it seems likewise possible to expand this focus to the global level and ask which social and normative practices are important in the global sphere of Sittlichkeit. Human rightsunderstood as a global practiceplay an important role as part of a global Sittlichkeit. They are accepted because they are incorporated in various global programs and institutions. Global discourses regarding issues such as the Millennium Development Goals or sustainable climate policy are both examples of this. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948about which there is a broad consensus within the global communityseeks to provide answers to the multifaceted experience of injustice. From this standpoint, ethical measures are determined with reference to concrete political realities. Ethically speaking, it is about letting all people lead a dignified life. Human rights intend to protect the necessary foundations for such a life. 3. A Dialogue on the Global Common Good: Intercultural perspectives for Transformation Notwithstanding the importance of human rights and the MDGs, the complexity of the current world order calls for a more-encompassing focus on the common good of all people. Following Honneth's approach, the achievement of the global common good must start by investigating the norms and practices implied at both the national and the global level. This research project therefore deals with alternative practices and values of social development which are currently produced by multiple societal ac-tors and with the actual and potential effects of these ideas on social prac-tice. The intercultural perspective that results from including contributions from different world regions is the specific characteristic of this volume. In a first step, the different contributions analyze which values and ideas can be found in their region with regard to a socially just and en-vironmentally sustainable society and how they should ideally be imple-mented in the respective societies. The objective is an inventory of im-portant visions and guiding ideas of societies with regard to their normative self-understanding and their models of development and prosperity. One main focus lies on exploring in what way the common good can serve as a normative guiding principle in the different cultural contexts. The studies assembled in this volume show that the notion of the common good can respond to the (cultural) plurality and heterogeneity of societies. This is reflected in different interpretations of the common good ranging from a stronger focus on human dignity over well-be...