My observation of business practices over my business career of 50 years is that there has been a gradual shift away from the core values of honesty, loyalty, fairness and service in favour of intense efforts directed at obtaining short term results, usually financial, usually for ‘me.’ As standards slip more people begin to think that this is normal, this is the way things are done in business. This is the next step down the slippery slope toward a situation where corruption becomes commonplace.

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We all agree with Nelson Mandela’s quote “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” But education has its own challenges, as it often systemically fails to engage children in learning. As Benjamin Franklin has quite beautifully said: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

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Steve Szeghi, Economics without the Rationality Postulate – Why it is Needed and What it Could Look Like

For thousands of years we had an economics that studied what was produced, by whom, and for whom, without the rationality postulate.  It was also an economics that was grounded in ethics and moral considerations. We need once again an economics that is not limited in conception and burdened with such an unrealistic and tired assumption as constant and continuous rational behavior.  This paper will describe the reasons why such an economics is needed.

Such an economics is needed in the interest of realism.  It is also needed to move beyond the straight jacket of efficiency both in terms of how it is defined, and the tendency to ignore or downplay far more important considerations. Finally it is needed to move beyond the moral equivalency of all human actions.  Ethics and spiritual values do matter for the sake of both personal happiness and the ability to be a community.

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Gherado Girardi and Fabio Petito, Post Secular Reflections on the Value of the Stakeholder Approach in Business

The business strategy literature considers two types of corporate objectives or, as companies like to call them, ‘missions’, namely the shareholder and stakeholder approaches. According to the shareholder approach, companies exist to maximize the return for shareholders, and all other stakeholders (workers, managers, customers, suppliers, etc.) are instrumental in achieving this purpose. On the other hand, according to the stakeholder approach (in its more communitarian form), companies exist to benefit all stakeholders (including the shareholders, though, unlike for the shareholder approach, these are not given priority over other stakeholders).

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 Farhang Jahanpour, Mystical Legacy – Antidote to Fanatacism

The prolific author, novelist and historian, A. N. Wilson, who originally studied theology at Oxford, later on left the church and declared himself an atheist, and again in an article on 11 April 2009 in Daily Mail announced his conversion to Christianity, in a hard-hitting pamphlet in the Counter-Blast series in 1991 wrote: “It is said in the Bible that the love of money is the root of all evil. It might be truer to say that the love of God is the root of all evil. Religion is the tragedy of mankind. It appeals to all that is noblest, purest, loftiest in the human spirit, and yet there scarcely exists a religion which has not been responsible for wars, tyrannies and the suppression of the truth.

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Kamran Mofid, For the Common Good – Unleashing the Power and Passion of Purpose

Those familiar with my writings and also with the GCGI will easily know that in my view nothing is more urgent and important in our world today than striving for the common good. I have written extensively on this topic. However, as my contribution to our ongoing conversation on the Common Good at our GCGI Oxford 2014 Conference, below I have provided a short summary of and the links to a selection of my writings on the common good.

My perspective comes from two broad sources: (1) from over sixty years of living in globalised, diversified communities, in different countries and continents, in the midst of a diverse group of people, from various cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds; and (2) from thinkers- past and present- who were/are open, fresh and responsive to the human spirit, reflecting deeply on the individual, society, community and the common good. It is fair to say that, their impact on me has been profound. Their wisdom has nourished and nurtured my personal and professional development.

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Walter Schwimmer, Spiritual Heritage as a Source of Wisdom in the Age of Globalisation

The biblical words: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone …”, spoken 2000 years ago are even more valid in the time of globalization. Human beings are not just tool using animals, ruled by biological drives only, but vision creating beings. Human beings have goals, certainly materialistic ones too, but the visionary goals are idealistic and very often selfless. They are related to religious beliefs as well as to humanistic movements. However, no matter whether a human being considers him or herself as religious, for everybody exists something which is “holy” or “sacred” in his or her mind, may it be some principle, some objective, some relation, e.g. such as family. Mankind cannot exist without spiritual dimensions.   Spirituality is releasing blocks, leading to new ideas and guiding people when they need it. But what is most important is the desire which is based in spirituality to help people and make a difference in the world. When the world is going through tremendous changes, the process which is called globalization, we need desperately this desire for reaching out to other people, for solidarity, for a global sister- and brotherhood.

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Luk Bouckaert, Can Spirituality Save the World?

Is the world driven by politics of power, economics of greed and a cultural ethos of consumerism?  At first glance, it seems that many political and economic events can be explained by these narrow drivers of individual and collective ego-centrism. However, there are countervailing powers at work.  A growing number of people from different religions, nationalities, political parties, scientific disciplines or social classes become aware that we reached the limits of our current system of ego-centric growth.  In interviews enlightened business leaders speak about their interest in Zen or other meditative practices.

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 Jamshid Damooei, Economic Efficiency and Ethical Behavior – Exploring Ideas on the Creation of Economic Values, the Workings of a Virtuous Market, and the Role of Profit

This paper takes a brief look into a number of important issues that each requires a much deeper level of inquiry and analysis. The core issue is based on a fundamental assertion that ethics is an inherent component of a well-run economy and successful businesses. In recent years, business has been viewed increasingly as a major cause of social, environmental, and economic problems. This paper questions the sustainability of recent economic and business practices. It argues that the cost of economic crisis, the fallouts from unfair business practices and the emergence of an uncertain future for humans and other living beings on Earth are some of the more obvious costs of the inefficiencies caused by unethical behavior. The issue of profit maximization as a concept that works against its stated objective by bringing a fall in profit in the long term is looked into closely.

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Ghoncheh Tazmini, The Islamic resurgence in the Arab world and the need for a Dialogue within Civilisation (This paper was originally presented in shorter form at the 2013 Paris Conference of GCGI, but due to the paper’s critical relevance to the current global political situation the editors thought to include it in the current issue)

The upheavals spanning much of the Arab world over the last two years have introduced dramatic change in the region, overthrowing leaders in some countries and seriously destabilising regimes in others. Some have suggested that Iran would be the main beneficiary of regional instability, owing to the ‘the downfall of pro-US Arab regimes in the region, an emboldened Arab public angry at Israel and hostile to US foreign policy, and growing assertiveness of Shi’ites. The rise of political Islam in the Arab world, they argue, has shifted the balance of power in Tehran’s favour. Various analyses of the post-revolutionary Arab world are replete with talk of ‘Islamic crescents’ with the Islamic Republic of Iran haphazardly blazing the trail. There is also much hype and speculation that Iran is using all of its resources to manipulate and hamper democratic transitions in the Arab world.

In this analysis, I go beyond assessing Iran’s role in the Arab spring as strictly a strategic rival or a regional power. There are lessons to be drawn from Iran – and not necessarily the 1979 Iranian-Islamic revolution or the so-called Green Movement in 2009. I will draw on Mohammad Khatami’s presidency (1997-2005) during which the reformer-president had to respond to calls for progressive social and political reforms within a theocratic-Islamic template. I will advance the idea of a broad-based ‘dialogue within civilisation’ as a framework in which all segments of post-authoritarian Arab society – Islamist, conservative, liberal, secular, the youth and minority groups –  discuss how to integrate both indigenous and ‘nativistic’ practices and traditions with more ‘modern’, ‘democratic’ institutions.  Moreover, I will argue that the international community can act as a consensus-builder by encouraging post-authoritarian Arab societies to pave their own path to modernity by pursuing a strategy of ‘autonomous adaptation’ to new political and social realities.

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Audrey E. Kitagawa, Loving Kindness and Compassion in Daily Life

Most religious traditions promulgate behaviors that are meant to express our caring for each other as a form of implementing social justice of the highest order in daily life. Everyone wants to be treated fairly and reasonably because our sense of justice preserves and enhances our personal and collective dignity, which comes from an inherent recognition that our lives are sacred, and as such, should never be degraded. To be in relationship with others in a manner that is respectful, just, and dignified, presupposes that these qualities are developed within ourselves first so we can then have the capability to convey and share them with others.

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Ulrich Duchrow, Overcoming the Spirituality of Money by Inter-religious Solidarity for the Common Good  (Although unable to attend the conference in person, due to circumstances beyond his control, Ulrich wrote an excellent paper for the conference.  We are therefore honored to include it in the Conference Papers)

We are facing a global crisis created by the climax of our capitalist money civilization — a crisis that calls for a global answer. The world’s many religions are well suited to serve as resources in the face of this crisis because they emerged during the Axial Age: the same time period when money and private property began to penetrate everyday life including the spirituality of people in pre-capitalist societies across the globe.

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Gerrit De Vylder & Zubin Mulla, Kautilya versus Thiruvalluvar. Inspiration from Indian Ancient Classics for Ethics in Governance and Management

We consider two classical sources from Ancient India as possible sources for tackling the lack of ethics in governance and business in emerging markets today. First, Arthashastra is a treatise on economics and politics written by Kautilya, the advisor to the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta during the fourth century BC. Kautilya provided practical recommendations like providing high and fair compensations to civil servants. It is suggested that the existing wage structure creates feeling of inequity in government employees and is likely to lead to inefficiency and corruption. Second, Thirukkural is a classic of rhyming Tamil couplets, possibly written around the year 31 BC, by Thiruvalluvar, a common weaver born in Mylapore, near present-day Chennai. It is one of the most revered ancient works in the Tamil language, providing a guide for human morals and betterment in life. Like Adam Smith and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Thiruvalluvar stated that ethical values coincide with a good economy and that therefore a free market is necessary. Basically humans are naturally good and contribute positively to the economy. In conclusion, while Kautilya gave pragmatic advice to tackle human’s destructive economic instincts, Thiruvalluvar assumed the natural goodness of men and warned against institutional interference.

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Peter Bowman, The Value of Values in Economics- Economics with Justice

The financial and economic crash of 2008 and its aftermath has seriously called into question the usefulness of conventional economics as taught in the majority of universities. Since that time there have been a number of initiatives to re-formulate the subject. The School of Economic Science is an educational charity that has been offering courses in value-based economics for over seventy years, most recently under the title: Economics with Justice. Its courses offer an ethical approach to economics that could provide an example of an alternative approach to the subject for those seeking a reformulation. The present course is offered in three termly modules. The first unit introduces the basic elements of the subject but from the perspective of justice.  It explores issues such as employment, land tenure, banking, credit creation and taxation not just dealing with the mechanisms in operation but also from the perspective of their inherent justice or injustice. In the second unit the history of the development of economic ideas is followed. As in the first module the approach is not just to look at the content of these ideas and their effects but also to consider how they relate to justice. The third module explores recent developments in economics relating to growth and sustainability. By also including the topic of human development it opens for consideration the need for man’s inner growth as well as the satisfaction of his outer needs. The paper will describe this example of a values based approach to economics.

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