The sustainable development labyrinth

Abstract

Rather than try to give an account or definition of sustainable development of different schools of thought, what follows describes the evolution undergone by the discourse on sustainable development or the 'environmentalist' problem in Latin America in the last four decades by examining the work of Enrique Leff. His vast work represents a regime of truth, which has circulated around world. The examination of his most important texts, theoretical transformations and its problems are reflected in today's movements and discourses that advocate some form of sustainable development strategy. But as I will argue, some of the proposals do not reach their full potential; there are other theoretical paths out of the labyrinth if we reconfigure the sustainable development discourse with the support of the Latin American structuralism or centre-periphery, conception of the economy. The work of Leff is an outstanding regional - Latin American - autochthonous creation.