Ecosystemic development

President Lee Myung-bak introduced ¡°ecosystemic development¡± as a new goal of his administration Monday in his speech to mark the 66th Independence Day.¡°Ecosystemic development refers to narrowing the social gap instead of increasing it, growth with jobs, not growth without jobs, and seeking a humane society in which people embrace each other,¡±he said.¡°The market economy should be taken to a new level for ecosystemic development,¡±he added. "We should shift from greedy management to ethical management, from freedom of capital to responsibility of capital, from the growing gap between the rich and poor to co-prosperity, and from politics of ideology to politics of livelihood."

If a species dies out, all species in the natural ecosystem are impacted. What the president implied is that if one market player collapses, it could lead to the collapse of the entire country, and for this reason, he proposed ecosystemic development. This is in line with what President Lee has stressed since last year –- co-growth, co-existence and a fair society. A decade ago, European left-wing parties suggested the ¡°Third Way¡±(the U.K.¡¯s Labor Party) or a ¡°New Center¡±(Germany¡¯s Social Democratic Party) to overcome the contradiction of socialism. In this regard, what President Lee said can be understood that he wants to correct the problems of the ¡°law of jungle¡± or the ¡°winner-takes-all¡± situation in market economics and capitalism from the perspective of the right-wing party.

The world is experiencing unprecedented crises that cannot be overcome by the notion of left-right ideology. They include the global financial, food and energy crises, the widening gap between the rich and poor, high unemployment and climate change, as President Lee mentioned. Such crises encourage disagreement and conflict among individuals, classes and regions. What matters is how to tackle these issues. President Lee set ¡°a fair society¡± as a goal on Independence Day last year and selected 80 major tasks to that end, but experts gave him a "C" on average. He must have talked about ecosystemic development seriously but whether he has a reasonable and detailed strategy that can be continued without losing its driving force is doubtful.

Ecosystemic development can be sustained through reforms in the system as well as the people¡¯s mindset and policies. The government should release a blueprint and action plan that can handle the situation it faces and that people can form a consensus on. Of course, Seoul should encourage participation by both the ruling and opposition parties, companies and the people. In addition, the president himself should not undermine the market economy or be swayed by populism in the name of ecosystemic development.