The UN and Goal Setting

This chapter looks closely at the notion of sustainable development and the components of the post-2015 development agenda. It provides a road map to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by Member States during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2015. The SDGs envision a world that is ‘comprehensively sustainable: socially fair; environmentally secure; economically prosperous; inclusive; and more predictable’, and call for a concerted effort to build a future based on ‘sustainability’. The SDGs encompass social, economic, and environmental objectives, and target both developed and developing countries. They replace the former Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and establish a new financing framework for development. The analysis in this chapter centres on the notion of sustainability that underpins the SDGs and is central to the 2030 development agenda. More specifically, this chapter is concerned with two key themes: first, what is development; and, second, why does sustainable development matter? The chapter considers the importance of development, identifies relevant theories of development, and considers the determinants of development. As we shall see, development can be defined in both human and economic terms, with different implications for the development agenda. Over the past decade, a range of theories have been developed to explain the determinants of development. This has sparked an extensive debate about the relationship between law, political institutions, and economic development. Third, the chapter considers the value of development objectives such as the SDGs. It considers the purposes and premises of the SDGs and discusses their underpinnings. In doing so, this chapter lays the groundwork for subsequent discussion in this book. The main purpose is to outline the 17 SDGs and their implications for scaling up development finance. The UN and Goal Setting