Beyond the Dependency Culture People, Power and Responsibility by James Robertson, Twickenham, England: Adamantine Press Limited, 1998, 217 pp.

Abstract

James Robertson is a seasoned policy maker. More than three decades ago,
from the corridors of Whitehall, he became the architect of the "winds of
change" theme for British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's end-of-empire
tour of Africa. Robertson's theme of change is a call for liberation, and more
specifically, liberation from the control and domination of institutional power.
He sees it fit to argue that in the post-imperial world, prosperity and survival
of nations and peoples depends on a deep-rooted concern for humans and
nature.
In the postmodern world where communism has breathed its last and socialism
is in disrepute, Robertson has attempted to chart a new course for the future
of humanitv. lie believes that both caQ.italism and socialism have served the
motives of big businesses and state. It is time for a postmodern worldview to
emerge that will rectify the excesses of the two dominant systems. The author
calls for a new path of progress, based on co-operative self-reliance rather than
increased dependency, so that the world allows people (and nations) to take
responsibility for their own development in co-operation with one another. He
sees this not only as an important end in itself, but also as "the only means, barring
worldwide catastrophe, of transforming today's ecologically destructive
patterns of human activity into ways of life that can be sustained into the
future" (p. xi).
This theme constitutes the bulk of lectures and papers that are reprinted in
the book. Spanning a period of nearly two decades - from 1977 to 1996 -
they complement the author's earlier published works: The Sane Alternative ...