In the current era of rapid change, sustaining diverse cultural communities has become an urgent issue. According to ecological philosopher Brueggemann, communal sustainability is closely linked with justice, which is supported by research on ancient Jewish society. As communities are considered systems, even small injustices can have significant effects on their sustainability. Therefore, the principle of justice can provide valuable insights into the crisis of communal development.
This article examines two cases that illustrate the development process from traditional to modern models. The first case is based on James C. Scott's study of peasant communities in Myanmar during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The second case is a current rural community in Tengchong, Yunnan, China. In both cases, the principle of justice undergoes a transformation from fairness to unfairness, reflected in the management of natural resources and resulting in a shift in social-ecological systems from sustainability to unsustainability.
Taken together, these cases demonstrate that the principle of justice remains applicable to today's communities. In the face of dramatic changes, examining the principle of justice within different communities may offer a valuable approach to dealing with crises.
