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Justice Trumps Freedom: The Conceptualization of a New Sustainable Development Paradigm

Hyelladzira Musa Wakawa,Johnson Akintunde Ilepe,Olagoke Olaniji Edeme

Published 2025 in Journal of Economics, Business, and Commerce

ABSTRACT

The pursuit of sustainable development has long been guided by the dual pillars of freedom and justice. However, the prevailing neoliberal paradigm has prioritized individual freedoms over social justice, exacerbating global inequalities and environmental degradation. This paper challenges the dominant development discourse by arguing that justice should take precedence over freedom in the pursuit of sustainable development. This study employed a descriptive and critical qualitative research approach, combining elements of critical discourse analysis and qualitative content analysis. The study employed a comprehensive review of existing literature on sustainable development, neoliberalism, and distributive justice. The literature review focused on academic journals, books, and reports. The critical analysis of existing development frameworks reveal how the emphasis on individual freedoms has led to the marginalization of vulnerable populations and the degradation of the environment. In contrast, the paper proposes a new paradigm that prioritizes justice, equity, human rights and environmental protection. This approach recognizes the inherent value of social and environmental justice in achieving sustainable development. The proposed paradigm is grounded in the principles of distributive justice, participatory governance, and ecological sustainability. It demonstrates how this approach can be operationalized through policy reforms, institutional innovations, and grassroots mobilization. Accordingly, the paper offers a transformative vision for sustainable development, one that prioritizes justice, equity, human well-being and ecological sustainability over individual freedom that is usually abused to create uneven access to resources, wellbeing and environmental degradation.

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