A New Social Contract: Rethinking the Role of the State Towards Post- 2015 Development Agenda

As the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals ends in 2015 a broad consultative process headed by UN is being conducted all around the world in order to formulate new goals/targets within the broader framework of sustainable human development. The main argument of this paper is founded on the major fault line in neoliberal thinking with its belief in self regulating markets and its anti-state rhetoric whose harmful consequences have been exposed by the current economic crisis. We argue that there is a need for reconsidering the potential for the role of the modern State which is adapted to the challenges of the 21st century. We suggest that the concept of social contract in discussing the role of the State may be very helpful as it broadens the concern for development beyond the State versus Economy dichotomy. The essence of any social contract is a consensus among the members of a society with regards the regulation of collective life which is grounded upon the utmost values. As such it legitimizes the roles of the State in promoting these goals, and also the structures of interaction between the State and the civil society. Therefore we argue that, the concept of social contract may provide a basic framework into the post-Millenium debates which seek to construct a new global development agenda based upon globally agreed values and goals.