Alberto Acosta Espinosa

Alberto Acosta Espinosa

Alberto Acosta Espinosa (born July 21, 1948 in Quito , Ecuador ) is an Ecuadorian economist, politician and intellectual.

Life

Acosta studied business administration from 1971 to 1974 at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and earned the title of Diplom-Betriebswirt (FH). From 1974 to 1979 he studied at the University of Cologne , first economic geography , then economics (with a focus on energy economics ). In 1979 he obtained his degree in economics, which was recognized by the Pontifical University in Quito in 1981 .

During his studies in Germany he was Vice Consul at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Cologne between 1970 and 1976, and then Attaché from 1977 to 1979 . On December 4, 1979, he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon. From 1980 he worked in various institutions of the Ecuadorian state as well as at a number of universities and research institutions, including from 1990 to 2006 at ILDIS , an institute of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation .

He is a member of Alianza PAÍS , the Rafael Correas party , and has worked on that party's program.

Acosta Espinosa was President of the Constituent Assembly of Ecuador in 2007/08 and Minister of Energy and Mining in the Rafael Correa cabinet from January to June 2007. As President of the Constituent Assembly, he played a key role in shaping the character of the new Ecuadorian constitution, which created a new development model for the country based on traditional indigenous principles ( Sumak kawsay , “rights of nature”) as well as western-modern elements ( human rights , equality of the sexes ). However, at the end of the Constituent Assembly's session, there was a break with Correa, as a result of which Acosta resigned as Chairman of the Constituent Assembly. Correa had criticized the fact that Acosta “gave everyone the floor”, that is, giving the opposition too much speaking time and thus giving too much importance.

In the 2013 presidential election in Ecuador , he ran as a candidate for the Pachakutik . Acosta, however, had to admit defeat to incumbent Rafael Correa .

Fonts (selection)

• Breve historia económica del Ecuador. Cooperación Editorial Nacional, Quito 1995, second edition 2001.
• Buen Vivir: On the right to a good life. oekom verlag, Munich 2015. ISBN 978-3-86581-705-1 (paperback); ISBN 978-3-86581-906-2 (eBook) Review in: NDR culture, May 27, 2015
• together with Ulrich Brand : Radical alternatives. Why one can only overcome capitalism by joining forces , Oekom, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-96238-014-4 .
• Ashish Kothari, Federico Demaria and Albero Acosta (2015): Buen Vivir, Degrowth and Ecological Swaraj: Alternatives to sustainable development and the Green Economy. Development, 2014, 57 (3–4)

Web links

• Alberto Acosta's blog
• Sebastian Schoepp: Better to live well than live better. The Ecuadorian economist and politician Alberto Acosta. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . January 11, 2010, p. 18 , accessed January 24, 2010 . 
• Alberto Acosta: In Search of Paradise Lost. Will the oil stay in the soil of the Ecuadorian Yasuní National Park? Evangelical Development Service , May 2009, accessed on January 24, 2010 . 
• Frank Braßel: Overcoming the neoliberal tsunami. Interview: Alberto Acosta. In: ila April 304 , 2007, accessed August 18, 2015 . 
• Alberto Acosta: A constitution for the “good life”. In: Umwelt aktuell . April 2010, p. 6 , accessed April 28, 2010 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Information from the Ordenskanzlei in the Office of the Federal President.
2. ↑ Alberto Acosta: The "Buen Vivir". The creation of a utopia. (PDF) In: juridikum 4/2009. April 2009, pp. 219-223 , archived from the original on October 21, 2012 ; accessed on January 3, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Manuela Botero, El poder distanció a dos amigos , El Universo , June 30, 2008; Correa y Acosta, en sus frases , El Universo, June 29, 2008 (both Spanish)