Institutional Failure and Sustainability Policy

This article first shows that climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are typical examples of institutional failure, to a greater extent a serious scenario characterized by government failure and market failure at the same time. To better comprehend the global development of multilateral institutions, this article presents Gunnar Myrdal’s insights into the South Asian countries, which he observed several decades ago, as a regional example. In this regard, this article also describes the institutional development of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The development of ASEAN (i.e., the emergence of Asian regional planning) has been driven by an implicit process of multilateral interactions and negotiations rather than an orientation of explicit goals. Given the various big crises and unexpected shocks that constantly threaten us all, the article stresses the necessity and urgency of initiating a comprehensive sustainability policy at each individual country level. Only when each country unambiguously chooses its own national agenda on sustainability can the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the regional or global level be further negotiated and aligned.