General Flashcards
What are the SDGs?
- Set a global agenda for 2015 - 2030
- Agreed by 193 countries
- Focus on economic, social + environmental problems (+ interplay between them)
Give three critiques of the SDGs
- Fail to challenge free market forces (mired in neoliberal ideologies)
- Make no mention of power relations
- Have multiple, conflicting goals
Give three positives of the SDGs
- Unlike MDGs, SDGs designed to engage people from all walks of life
- Devised using bottom-up approach / product of 3 year consultation process involving local communities
- Flexible: each nation is free to select its own target based on national circumstances + priorities
Despite weaknesses, the SDGs are…
The best framework for international action that is available at the present
What are the positive and negative aspects of the SDGs originating from the UN?
The SDGs originating from the UN gives them considerable authority
But suggests they may represent a compromise between different interest groups
What is the impact of the ability of sustainable development on the SDGs
SD is an oxymoron // operates as a political slogan rather than as a logical concept
The ambiguity that surrounds the notion of SD obscures what the SDGs are trying to achieve
In what way are there too many goals?
SDGs have been criticised for their breadth + complexity
Are the goals little more than a wish list?
In what way do the SDGs focus on the symptoms + not the causes?
- Free standing agenda without context / historical background
- No analysis of how unsustainable practices have arisen
- No understanding of political processes needed to remedy them
Give an example of the SDGs focusing on the symptoms + not the causes
Globally just 1% of the world’s population owns 99% of its wealth, yet there is no mention of redistribution measures in the SDGs
In what way are the goals contradictory?
Social demands imply an elaborate welfare state
While economic targets are dominated by a neoliberal agenda that seeks to minimise it
In what way do the goals raise complex issues about international relations?
Take a simplistic approach by concentrating on how developing countries can grow their economies
No acknowledgment of colonial history / structural adjustment policies
Leave too much work for poorer countries
In what way are the goals dominated by neoliberal interests?
Goals appear to endure free trade without any caveats + make no mention of the role of TNCs despite their enormous powers
In what way is it unclear how the goals will be implemented?
Funding the SDGs might cost around 4% of world GDP
Western governments give less than 0.7% of their GDP in international aid so its unclear where money will come from
What forms the framework for the SDGs?
5Ps framework
People Planet Prosperity Peace Partnership
What Group in Scotland is attempting to integrate international development + sustainability agendas?
Post-15 Working Group
Integrating international development + sustainability agendas within Scotland
