Restorative Justice and Sustainable Development: A Preview of Holistic and Systemic Contextual Change

Restorative Justice (RJ) and Sustainable Development (SD) are two shifts in our world view which have arisen in response to the need to address structural inequities and inefficiencies in our systems of justice and economic development. These paradigm shifts are growing in importance and relevance and are being embraced as potentially realistic answers to the most pressing systemic problems that we face, both as a community with shared interests and concerns and as a society with shared responses. And while SD has been embraced more and more by communities and corporations alike, Restorative Justice is only now beginning to make its presence felt in similar contexts and forums around the world. Because RJ and SD have at their core similar paradigm shifts, i.e. away from individualism and commodification of resources (including labor) to one of recognizing interdependence and valuing community, two questions emerge. First is whether RJ and SD are symbiotic, implying that one cannot be truly complete or successful without the other, and, second, will the increasing prevalence of SD provide for further adoption of RJ when stakeholder/community interests are impacted by corporate behavior. These questions closely mirror the theoretical differences between integrative and instrumental logic. The former is based on a system’s perspective and implies a tighter integration between financial performance and corporate commitment to social and environmental issues, whereas the latter sees a causal relationship between financial performance and corporate social and environmental commitment. The essay which follows is intended as an introduction to a larger project, currently in development, with the following goals. First, to perform a comprehensive analysis of RJ and SD particularly in the context of a paradigm shift. Second, to understand the dynamics of paradigm shifts and particularly their intractability in the face of political opposition. Finally, to answer the question whether RJ and SD have a symbiosis that necessitates the development of both in order for either to be fully implemented and responsive. And then, to evaluate what the public policy response should be and how institutions will be, or should be, envisioned to help insure the changes truly do address the problems we face.