UN chief: Many countries say 'if superpowers can violate the law, why can't we?'

 

Who will survive in the new world? RT’s new special project offers exclusive insights

RT presents the Social Well-Being Index, a new way to measure whether societies can sustain themselves, protect life, and remain cohesive

Published 23 Apr, 2026 13:08 | Updated 24 Apr, 2026 11:23

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What makes a prosperous nation?

The West has one answer: money.

For decades, Western institutions have measured things like GDP, sustainability and ‘human development’ to show which countries are doing well in the world.

But do these things indicate what is truly important for humans as a species and a society? Heavily skewed towards individual consumerism, they downplay tradition and paint the growth of human population as a problem – to the point where family is seen as an atavism and ‘child-free’ appears to be the lifestyle of the progressive future.

Such views are very clearly filtered through the prism of the modern liberal West – so much so that they serve as soft-power tool for promoting Western ‘values’. If your country scores high on a Western index of well-being or development, it doesn’t really mean it’s ‘doing well’ by itself – it simply means it is aligned with a certain world-view.

The emerging new multipolar world order needs new benchmarks, which is why RT is introducing the Social Well-Being Index – a new and unique way to measure the status of nations, which takes into account the most fundamental and objective criteria of societal health to create a deeper understanding of global development trends.

Raisina Dialogue 2025 Announcement | Kālachakra - People, Peace and Planet

ROAD TO 2030 | A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)

FEBRUARY 28, 2023

In 2023, the world has reached the mid-way point for attaining the 2030 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. On this occasion, the Virchow Foundation for Global Health will highlight history, progress and the challenges ahead for reaching the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Key dates in 40 years of sustainable development


The development and adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals builds on decades of work done by countries and the United Nations. Before the first world conference on the human environment, hosted by the United Nations (UNCHE) and its Member States in Stockholm in 1972, environmental issues had not been given adequate attention from neither the public nor policy makers. During the UNCHE, a series of principles and an action plan was adopted from all participating countries. One significant outcome of the conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).


Eleven years later, in 1983, the “Brundtland Commission”, named after and led by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, was established. Also known as the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), or within the United Nations as the “UN Special Commission on the Environment”, the aim was to help direct countries globally towards sustainable development (1). The “Our Common Future” Report (also known as Brundtland Report) was published by the commission in 1987 shortly before their disbandment. It defined sustainable development for the first time as “a development that fulfils the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to fulfil their own needs” linking social, economic, cultural and environmental issues (1).

In June 1992, held on the 20th anniversary of the UNCHE, more than 178 countries adopted the “Agenda 21” action programme during the Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), which took place in Rio de Janeiro. The Agenda 21 was a comprehensive plan of action to build a global partnership for sustainable development to improve human lives and protect the environment (2).

After the Earth Summit and Agenda 21, the next milestone was the unanimous adoption from all Member States of the Millennium Declaration during the Millennium Summit in New York. The start of a new millennium posed a unique opportunity to create a new strategy, adapted to the latest realities and needs of the world in the twenty-first century. The Summit, held in September 2000, was the largest gathering of heads of states and governments of all time until then. It led to the elaboration of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to be achieved by the year 2015.

Marx, the Young Hegelians, and the Origins of Radical Social Theory

Marx, the Young Hegelians, and the Origins of Radical Social Theory
Dethroning the Self

Series: Modern European Philosophy
Warren Breckman
University of Pennsylvania
Paperback (ISBN-13: 9780521003803 ISBN-10: 0521003806)

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This is the first major study of Marx and the Young Hegelians in twenty years. The book offers a new interpretation of Marx’s early development, the political dimension of Young Hegelianism, and that movement’s relationship to political and intellectual currents in early nineteenth-century Germany. Warren Breckman challenges the orthodox distinction drawn between the exclusively religious concerns of Hegelians in the 1830s and the sociopolitical preoccupations of the 1840s. He shows that there are inextricable connections between the theological, political and social discourses of the Hegelians in the 1830s. The book draws together an account of major figures such as Feuerbach and Marx, with discussions of lesser-known but significant figures such as Eduard Gans, August Cieszkowski, Moses Hess, F. W. J. Schelling as well as such movements as French Saint-Simonianism and ‘positive philosophy’. Wide-ranging in scope and synthetic in approach, this is an important book for historians of philosophy, theology, political theory and nineteenth-century ideas.

• The first major study of Marx and Hegelianism in 20 years • Considers major figures such as Feuerbach and Marx as well as lesser-known significant figures • An important chapter in modern intellectual history for philosophers, historians of ideas, political theorists, and theologians

Contents
Introduction; 1. At the end of idealism: from 'nihilism' to 'positive philosophy'; 2. The transcendent sovereign and the political theology of restoration; 3. Ludwig Feuerbach and Christian civil society; 4. The social and political discourse of personality, 1835–1840; 5. Pantheism, social question and the third age; 6. Arnold Ruge: radical democracy and the politics of personhood, 1838–1843; 7. Karl Marx: from social republicanism to communism; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography.

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Source:http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521003803

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