A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

uct, fair redistribution of wealth and, not without ambiguity, the industrialization
of natural resources (Art.313).
ii) In Ecuador’s Buen Vivir National Plan, 2009-2013
The drawing up of Ecuador’s Buen Vivir National Plan bases itself on the
Constitution to clarify its thinking and its analyses. According to its authors,
it is first a question of recognizing the actors who have been historically
excluded and to adopt forms of the production and reproduction of life
that differ from the logic of the market and acknowledging the differences
of peoples (inter-culturalism) (2009, 43). They consider that the human
being is central and that the economy must be at the service of life. This
means overturning the perverse logic of capitalism whose motor depends
on accumulation. “The logic of the accumulation of capital [must be] subjected
to the logic of the extended reproduction of life” (ibid.).
On the other hand it is recognized that the link with nature is organic
(life is indivisible), which implies recognizing nature’s rights. It is not a
case of ‘natural resources’ but rather ‘the space in which life is carried
out’ . For this reason, Nature has “the right for its existence to be wholly
respected and that its vital cycles, structures, functions and evolving
processes maintained” (Articles 71 and 72) (ibid.).
These principles require practical application, a task that is then taken
on by the Plan. It is a question of improving the quality of life and with
it developing the capacities and potentialities of human beings, promoting
equality through the redistribution of social goods and the benefits
of development. Such an objective cannot be carried out without genuine
participation of the people, recognition of cultural diversity, living in
harmony with nature, a sound economic system, national sovereignty
and Latin American integration.
As far as the Plan is concerned, the concept of ‘development’ is in crisis
and there should be a moratorium while the principle of buen vivir (2009,
31) is established in its place: in other words, the possibility of achieving
a full life and building harmony with the community and with the cosmos.
Already Aristotle thought that the ultimate aim of human beings
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