Sustainable Development Goals: Concept and Challenges of Global Development Goal Setting

The power dynamics in the global development agenda setting are known. Traditionally, debates are pitched on platforms glorifying how the developed Global North arm twists the developing Global South to comply and/or conform to specific policy positions. Through actor-network theory, document analysis, and critical discourse analysis, the chapter traces global development agenda setting mainly from the Rio+20 Summit whose outcome document is code-named “The Future We Want.” From Rio+20 emerged a global development road map leading to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (AfSD) and its 17 inseparable sustainable development goals (SDGs). A 3-year negotiation period was established, terminating in the new global sustainable development agenda that succeeded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2016. Although the SDGs have received unanimous endorsement by global governments, their development was not as straightforward as many may think. With the rallying banner “Let no one be left behind,” the global goals indicator development caused a consultation storm that led to meeting venues avoiding New York. From the Our Common Future report of 1987, through the Rio Declaration of 1992, to the MDGs in 2000, and ultimately the 2030 AfSD concluded in 2015, this chapter chronicles how stakeholders came together in shaping the SDGs discourses and agendas. The key findings are that the 2030 AfSD presents a new and innovative approach to global governance, where goal setting is an essential strategy. Furthermore, the process produced nonbinding SDGs and weak institutional arrangements and gives an extensive leeway that states enjoy.