Bruntland commission and the concept of sustainable development in the history of the USSR/Russia, 1980s-1990s

The authors examine in detail the content, ideology and principles of work of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). Particular attention is paid to the main provisions of the report of the commission by G.Kh. Bruntland «Our Common Future», which provided a generational definition of sustainable development so that it meets the needs of living people without depriving future generations of the opportunity to meet their needs. The quality of economic progress cannot be expressed only through macroeconomic indicators, because sustainability requires taking into account human needs, including non-economic variables such as education and health, clean air and water, and preserving the beauty of nature. The systemic nature of the tasks determines that isolated departments (as well as isolated states) are unable to solve them fully; therefore, the implementation of sustainable development requires a new orientation in international relations. The authors devote the second part of the article to the evolution of the attitude of the leadership of the USSR and later the Russian Federation to the idea of sustainable development. Already in 1985-1989, the USSR considered that synchronizing national restructuring with global restructuring gave the country the opportunity to find itself as one of the global leaders of the 21st century. It became the basis for active participation in the work of the Commission and at the same time developing own holistic view of the problems of the world order. The authors examine approaches to state policy for the sustainable development in the 1990s, which even then could become the real basis of the Russian economic strategy.