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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Ubuntu' and 'sumak kawsay': the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the search for a global South humanist paradigm of development
Author:Zondi, SiphamandlaISNI
Year:2016
Periodical:South African Journal of International Affairs (ISSN 1938-0275)
Volume:23
Issue:1
Pages:107-120
Language:English
Geographic terms:world
Africa
Subjects:parliament
geopolitics
philosophy
development
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2016.1160838
Abstract:The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) continuously seeks to assert itself as a voice of the peoples of the world in global debates, where geopolitical interests of states, often representing political and economic elites, dominate. This article critically analyses one of the latest contributions to norm setting and idea-generation by the IPU: the southern African humanist concept of ubuntu and and the Ecuadorian concept of sumak kawsay (also known as buen vivir in Spanish and living well in English) as the basis for the international response to the challenge of failed development strategies globally. This proposal from the IPU arises from the exhaustion of the dominant discourses and concepts underpinning international development. These discourses are based on the colonial model of power and are increasingly being challenged by calls from subaltern voices for 'unthinking, rethinking and delinking' from hegemonic illusions. Further, the article argues, the proposed ideals of 'living well' and 'human solidarity' cannot be implemented within the current colonially inspired humanist paradigm, but require a 'decolonial' orientation of global humanism. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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