THE CLUB OF ROME

On 15 February 2008, Dr Jalaludin Abdul Malek taught us about Power of Globalisation : Nation State vs Open Society. I am so eager when he informed us about the The Club of Rome. He did not give us any detail about this club. This is first time I heard about this club. So try to find in UKM's Library and check with Encyclopedia of Economics and Governance. The Club Of Rome is A Global Think Tank and Centre of Innovation and Initiative. The Club is to act as a global catalyst of change that is free of any political, ideological or business interest.As a non-profit, non govermental organisation (NGO), it brings together scientists, economists, businessmen, international high civil servants, heads of state and former heads of state from all five continents who are convinced that the future of humankind is not determined once and for all and that each human being can contribute to the improvement of our societies.

The Club of Rome was founded in April 1968 by Aurelio Peccei, an Italian industrialist, and Alexander King, a Scottish scientist. Hasan Özbekhan, Erich Jantsch and Alexander Christakis were responsible for conceptualizing the original prospectus of the Club of Rome titled "The Predicament of Mankind." This prospectus was founded on a humanistic architecture and the participation of stakeholders in democratic dialogue. When the Club of Rome Executive Committee in the Summer of 1970 opted for a mechanistic and elitist methodology for an extrapolated future, they resigned from their positions.

The Club identified three major needs that justified its creation:
1. To adopt a global perspective in examining issues and situations with the awareness that the increasing interdependence of nations, the emergence of world-wide problems and the future needs of all people posed predicaments beyond the capacity of individual countries to solve;

2. To think holistically and to seek a deeper understanding of interactions within the tangle of contemporary problems -- political, social, economic, technological, environmental, psychological and cultural in every sense -- for which we coined the phrase "the world problematique"; and

3. To take a longer term perspective in studies than is possible for governments preoccupied with day-to-day problems.

Limits to Growth is a 1972 book modeling the consequences of a rapidly growing world population and finite resource supplies, commissioned by the Club of Rome. Its authors were Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III. The book conclude that:

1. If the present growth trends in world population, industrialization, pollution, food production, and resource depletion continue unchanged, the limits to growth on this planet will be reached sometime within the next one hundred years. The most probable result will be a rather sudden and uncontrollable decline in both population and industrial capacity.

2. It is possible to alter these growth trends and to establish a condition of ecological and economic stability that is sustainable far into the future. The state of global equilibrium could be designed so that the basic material needs of each person on earth are satisfied and each person has an equal opportunity to realize his individual human potential.