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0,7 cake crumbs or actual cakes?
Why we need a Minister of Global Affairs Thomas Vervisch (Ghent University) fears an opportunity was missed in the distribution of ministerial posts in the new Belgian government: where is our…
The unbearable whiteness of international development
The SDGs and decolonial feminisms Keya Khandaker and Lata Narayanaswamy (University of Leeds) question the SDGs' white, liberal feminist myopia, which focuses on the fiction of the ‘Third World…
It is time to abandon “development” goals and demand a post-2030 Utopia
Following the critique, by Brecht De Smet, of the inherent shortcomings of the development paradigm, Julia Schöneberg and Mia Kristin Häckl argue for a post-2030 Utopia that starts now. They…
The normative promise of sustainability for labour standards – and the limitations of the SDGs
How can SDGs contribute to the promotion of labour rights? Tonia Novitz argues that the rights of workers may, in principle, benefit from being embedded in a wider sustainability discourse. However,…
SDGs caught between development and underdevelopment
It is time for new alternatives based on old critiques Brecht De Smet (UGent) joins Jan Orbie and Sarah Delputte in their criticism of the SDGs, but goes one step further and dissects the…
Agenda 2030: the limits of multilateralism?
At the launch of this blog series Jan Orbie and Sarah Delputte ask critical questions about the SDGs. Their colleague Bernard Mazijn (Ghent University) provides the necessary historical…
The SDGs as double agent for progressive sustainable development
Jonathan Matthysen (Oxfam Belgium) agrees that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) legitimize the current economic system. He argues, however, that progressive forces can also turn the SDGs…
The SDGs and the urgency of human rights in times of crisis
International human rights treaties are notably absent from the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Although human rights and SDGs could in theory reinforce each other, Chiara Macchi (Wageningen…
How sustainable are the SDGs?
We need more development, not post-development SDGs are ‘sustainable’, in the sense that poverty reduction has dominated development discourse for a very long time. Francine Mestrum criticizes…
Trade and the Sustainable Development Goals
Mission unfulfilled This blog series was launched with a sharp opinion by Jan Orbie and Sarah Delputte on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and in particular on the role of trade…