The rhetoric of sustainable development (SD) has become increasingly commonplace in the statements of those making or influencing development policy worldwide. This rhetoric and the SD literature that drives it are, however, afflicted by vagueness, inconsistencies, and oversimplifications. These weaknesses impeded the formulation of fresh, consistent, and effective policies, instead permitting the proliferation of programs that only pay lip service to the concept. SD is in danger of becoming just a politically expedient cliche, unless rigor and intellectual clarity replace the current imprecision in the literature.
