This book presents a critical political analysis of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and counters mainstream feelgood accounts of this agenda.

This book analyzes the politics of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conventional wisdom is that efforts to achieve the SDGs, or Global Goals, will contribute to building a more inclusive, sustainable and peaceful world. Adam Sneyd’s analysis counters this orthodox and unduly utopian point of view, uncovering the hidden politics of the SDG project and showing why the SDGs are not an ambitious package of progressive reforms. Sneyd’s analysis of each of the seventeen goals reveals how the SDGs are infused with minimalist intentions and a political orientation that sharply contrasts with the world-changing aspirations typically associated with the goals. He argues that the SDGs do more to bolster the legitimacy of the liberal international economic order and advance capitalist interests than to address pressing global challenges. This book analyzes the politics of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conventional wisdom is that efforts to achieve the SDGs, or Global Goals, will contribute to building a more inclusive, sustainable and peaceful world. Adam Sneyd’s analysis counters this orthodox and unduly utopian point of view, uncovering the hidden politics of the SDG project and showing why the SDGs are not an ambitious package of progressive reforms. Sneyd’s analysis of each of the seventeen goals reveals how the SDGs are infused with minimalist intentions and a political orientation that sharply contrasts with the world-changing aspirations typically associated with the goals. He argues that the SDGs do more to bolster the legitimacy of the liberal international economic order and advance capitalist interests than to address pressing global challenges.

The aim of this report is to present an overview of the 17 Goals using data currently available to highlight the most significant gaps and challenges.

Literature Review from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - Environmental Policy, grade: 1.3, University of Leipzig (Institute of Political Science), course: Application-oriented introduction to qualitative methods of political science, language: English, abstract: This paper strives to provide an overview of the critical academic engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This literature review is structured as follows: Firstly, a short introduction to the key terms facilitated in this paper will be given: 'development' and its distinction to 'sustainable development'. Secondly, the underlying methodology of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and its differentiation from discourse analysis (DA) will be presented in order to embed the subsequent overview. Finally, some main findings will be compared with the contribution of (C)DA to development studies. In late 2015, one of the most far-reaching consensuses in the world was unanimously agreed upon by the 193 countries of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Set out to fulfil ambitious development targets by 2030, ranging from the complete eradication of poverty in all its forms everywhere (Goal 1) to strengthening the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development (SD) (Goal 17), this framework is part of the so-called Post-2015 Development Agenda respectively '2030 Agenda' (eponymous by the main document constituting the SDGs passed by the UN in 2015). As the intended outcome of this process, which was initiated in 2012, the SDGs are the legitimate successor of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of eight goals that were promised to be reached by 2015 by the UN Millenium Declaration (passed in 2000). Facing manifold shortcomings of the MDGs, which were measured by a mere 18 targets, the SDGs were extended to 17 goals measured by 169 targets. Unsurprisingly and especially regarding their abundance, the SDGs faced harsh critique from most d

Adam Sneyd argues that it is imperative to recognize the importance of the sub-field of development politics.

This book contains assessment of the progress, or the lack of it, in implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through review of the assessments and of case studies, readers can draw lessons from the actions that could work to positively address the goals. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is designed to catalyze action in critical areas of importance to humanity and the planet. The effort to implement the SDGs, however, demands a sense of urgency in the face of environmental degradation, climate change, emerging conflicts, and growing inequality, among a number of other socio-economic problems. Five years after the launch of the 2030 Agenda, this book takes stock of how far the world has come and how we can position ourselves to achieve the global targets. The book is one of the first to assess how the implementation is impeded by the onset of COVID-19. It contains a special chapter on COVID-19 and the SDGs, while many thematic chapters on different SDGs also assess how COVID-19 adversely affects implementation, and what measures could be taken to minimize the adverse effects. This publication thus provides a fresh look at implementation of the SDGs highlighting impactful and creative actions that go beyond the business-as-usual development efforts. The volume reinforces this analysis with expert recommendations on how to support implementation efforts and achieve the SDGs through international and national strategies and the involvement of both the public and private sectors. The result is an indispensable textual tool for policy makers, academia, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as the public, as we march toward the 2030 deadline.

The simplicity of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) formed the basis of its apparent success and the grounds for relentless critique. It is fair to say that the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lurch in the opposite direction. After a unique exercise in global participatory democracy, world leaders have endorsed seemingly a dramatically ambitious social and environmental agenda. Constituted by a thick wad of seventeen goals and 169 targets, it stretches across a breath-taking array of global concerns, including many human rights. But is big so beautiful? Will the agenda wilt under its own ambitions? Did the lure of grand proclamation override the need for effective and focused global policy-making? And, has its breadth provided a convenient cover for problematic compromises and a conservative capture of the monitoring process? The answer to these questions is partly yes but the agenda's ultimate success lies in its potency as a political resource.