Sustainable Development as a Political-Ethical Principle: Accountability, Public Power, and Civil Liberties

The paper aims to restructure the concept of sustainable development not only as a technical and environmental framework, but as a fundamental political-ethical principle in modern public governance. In the face of ecological, institutional, and power ethics crises, the author raises philosophical questions about the nature of public power, accountability, and civil liberties in the age of globalization. The research methodology is grounded in the foundations of human philosophy, social philosophy, and critical theory, and is informed by a systematic and interdisciplinary approach. Through dialectical analysis of pairs of categories, the paper examines the internal contradictions within institutional power and highlights the potential for creating a democratic and ethical administrative model. The results show that sustainable development should be understood as an existential form of responsible freedom, where accountability is a priori for the birth of legitimate power. The relationship between the state and citizens cannot continue to be based on non-critical representation, but needs to be rebuilt in the spirit of dialogue and intergenerational justice. The conclusion affirms that sustainable development becomes a living reality only when power is reorganized based on ethics and substantive citizen participation, rather than being reduced to formal political slogans.