Global Development Goals: If at All, Why, When and How?
31 Pages Posted: 2 Oct 2015 Last revised: 23 Oct 2015
Date Written: September 30, 2015
Abstract
We raise some basic conceptual questions regarding global development goals: Why have them at all? What function, if any, might they serve, and under what conditions could they do so successfully? Based on our answers to these questions, we identify serious inadequacies in the contemporary approach to development goals and relate these to weaknesses in how the goals were conceived and formulated. Despite these failings, higher-level goals may play a useful role if the practical approach to them is embedded in a holistic and integrated vision of a better world. Focusing on goals rather than targets opens needed space for flexibility, innovation, and fuller democratic accountability.
Keywords: Development Goals, Global Goals, MDGs, SDGs
JEL Classification: O10, O19, O20, I30, F00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation