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Achieving the SDGs While Combating States' Vested Interest in The Emerging World Order
Aarjoo Bahuguna
SSIS Batch 2021-23
30 March 2023
Abstract: With the advent of developmental initiatives such as the Belt-Road Initiative by China and Build Back Better World by the United States, the emerging world order has presented us with a new development approach. One that highlights the vested interest of States in achieving sustainable development. Although the Sustainable Development Goals laid out by the United Nations play an impactful role in policymaking today, there remain lacunae in implementing development policies. Achieving sustainable development is challenging, especially when the affected stakeholders are not included in the process. By adopting a top-down approach towards development, the States are not only failing to include the affected stakeholders in the development process and allowing sustainable development to take a back seat while keeping their agendas at the forefront. Consequently, this also underlines the ineffectiveness of the principles set out by international organizations such as the United Nations. This article attempts to propose an alternative approach to combat this vested interest in development expressed by the States of the emerging world order. The same is done with the help of citing international, national, and local initiatives that highlight the bottom-up approach as a mechanism to combat the problem posed by vested interest.
Keywords: Sustainable development, United Nations, vested interest, stakeholders
Introduction
Context
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) - also known as the Agenda 2030 - is the route to a robust and enduring future as it provides us with a framework to achieve social justice, exercise environmental stewardship, strengthen governance mechanisms, and, most importantly, generate economic growth. A special working group was constituted in 2013 to formally develop the SDGs pushing the UN member countries toward Sustainable Development (Lewis, Yang, Moise, & Roddy, 2021). This pioneering work led to the formal adoption of the Agenda for Sustainable Development, including 17 SDGs in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly. It is estimated that - to realize the SDGs by 2030, mobilization of US $2.5 trillion per year is required through Official Development Assistance (ODA) and private flows (Gulati, 2021).
Given the aforementioned, it is pertinent to highlight that - while we are progressing towards achieving the SDGs at a local, national, and international level, development remains a secondary agenda for many nations. Power politics and the self-interests of States have often permeated into achieving objectives set by international organizations such as the United Nations. This is also what the neo-realist approach tells us - international institutions are and will remain primarily ineffective because these institutions cannot prevent States from indulging in power politics. Moreover, these organizations do not change the self-interested anarchic system of the States (Crockett, 2012).
Hence, it might be challenging to view development singularly as it is trapped within the web of vested interests of various stakeholders in development. In view of the same, this article emphasizes the need to adopt a 'bottom-up approach' to catalyze SDG achievement.
Issue
Keeping the context in mind, this article tackles the following:
Identifying how the bottom-up approach of stakeholder engagement can help eliminate the issue of vested interest in sustainable development in the emerging world order.
Analysis
Hindrances to achieving SDGs
The SDGs have gained recognition worldwide owing to the increasing need for sustainable development. While there are multiple definitions of sustainable development, it is best described by highlighting the nexus between factors of the triple bottom line approach to human wellbeing. Given the above, the SDGs have presented the world with a blend of social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and economic development (Sachs, 2012). As the world progresses towards sustainability, sustainable development, apart from vested interest, is posed with challenges such as the following:
High cost to achieve the SDGs - According to IMF reports, additional spending of about $1.3 trillion per year from 2019 to 2030 is needed to make advancements toward infrastructure related to SDGs in low-income developing and emerging market economies. Furthermore, there needs to be total spending of $1.3 trillion to achieve the health and education goals (Gaspar, Amaglobeli, Garcia-Escribano, Prady, & Soto, 2019). As estimated by the UN, a total of $5 trillion to $7 trillion per year from 2015 to 2030 is required to reach only a particular set of SDGs (Vorisek & Yu, 2020). This amount mentioned above includes the developing countries spending $3.3 trillion to $4.5 trillion per year, primarily for climate change mitigation and adaptation, basic infrastructure, food security, and health and education (UNCTAD, 2014).
Maintenance of peace - Development requires the maintenance of peace. A significant factor for turmoil and concern in developing and developed countries is - the threat to international peace and stability by non-state actors.
Progress measures - Some SDG targets do not have a quantifiable measure yet, meaning that the indicators to measure the progress for some targets have not been identified yet. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the quantum of progress made thus far.
Lack of accountability - As SDGs take after the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), they naturally come with similar character traits. MDGs observed a lack of accountability for inputs at each level. The same pattern is witnessed in the current SDG framework (Kumar, Kumar, & Vivekadhish, 2016).
Examples of States' vested interest
As mentioned previously, power politics and vested interests of States have often ensured that development becomes a secondary agenda. The same can be witnessed through examples and initiatives such Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by China and the Build Back Better World (B3W) by the US and its allies after leveraging the support of the Biden administration. The BRI intends to bolster interconnectivity between countries along the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road while fostering sustainable social and economic development among the BRI countries (Lewis & Moise, 2018). Although the B3W initiative was announced to balance out China's unchecked outreach in the Indo-Pacific region, it remains imperative to highlight that the B3W appears more as an extension of the Blue Dot Network (BDN) announced by the US, Japan, and Australia in 2019 (Panda J., 2021). Nevertheless, it is essential to state that B3W could potentially be an alternative to the BRI, the subsequent debt-trap diplomacy, and the no-strings-attached policy (Li, 2018), which generates income, employment, and economic growth for only the Chinese.
These two instances highlight that - while we progress towards development, the States have ensured to keep their agenda at the forefront. Thereby meaning to say that development has often taken a back seat. Furthermore, it is essential to highlight that international organizations such as the United Nations also fall prey to the vested interests expressed by States. Keeping in mind the principles of neorealism, it is clear that, although international organizations, such as the United Nations, provide countries with the push towards development, they still cannot avert the participation of states in power politics (Crockett, 2012). Consequently, hurdles like that disrupt the catalyzation of sustainable development.
With the evolution of new concerning issues such as terrorism, data security, climate change, gender equality, and economic development, States have found newer ways to advance their agendas. There remains hope to contribute towards development despite the hardened situations presented by vested interest. Among the many other approaches and methods to combat situations such as the like, one is the bottom-up approach which takes an 'ask-the-stakeholder' perspective from the beginning of the development process.
Bottom-up approach - a better path to development
SDGs have been recognized as the guiding principles for global development in the emerging world order. Local non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations commonly advocate for them. A consensus on the SDGs is ordinarily witnessed. An example of the same would be - the SDG Index by government functionaries such as NITI Aayog in India - wherein a report on the state-wise SDG progress was provided (NITI Aayog, 2020).
To do away with the State's vested interest in sustainable development, it is essential to ensure greater involvement of relevant stakeholders in the process. Therefore, the question to be answered becomes - how do the stakeholders get more involved in sustainable development while addressing the developmental process singularly? All stakeholders - NGOs, CSOs, and inter/intra-governmental structures have recognized the need for effective partnerships. Nevertheless, disagreements among stakeholders pose an impediment to the development progress (Maira, 2018).
Typically, a top-down approach to development involves the following:
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After understanding the above approach, it is essential to point out the following -
While the beneficiary may benefit from the decision, there is no community involvement. Development cannot fruitfully take place if the community is involved.
The ineffectiveness of international organizations remains existent when the relevant stakeholders are not considered.
Development is not viewed singularly and independently.
Communication has become integral to international development as it facilitates actions between stakeholders (States, governments, NGOs, CSOs, etc.). In addition to the same, communication also advances the engagement of stakeholders in causes that unite the States and pushes them to work towards a common goal. International organizations such as the United Nations provide a global forum where countries can mutually discuss issues of relevance and then cumulatively take action on the same. With this contextual understanding, it appears as a natural trajectory that international and national communication between stakeholders should be used as a tool to benefit those affected.
At global platforms provided by United Nations, multilateralism dictates the course of action and decisions taken. However, the implementation of these decisions is managed by central government frameworks existent in the country. In a scenario like this, States are presented with questions such as - 'how to get the affected stakeholder involved in the process?'. This question is best answered with the help of a bottom-up approach, traces of which can be seen in specific initiatives by international organizations.
The bottom-up approach was brought about as a response to the impact assessment of top-down approaches. This response came from NGOs and scholars who proposed substitutes for constructive engagement and communication from the standpoint of the affected stakeholder. While this approach helps realize the grass-root level development goals, it also ensures that development is viewed singularly without any other vested interest that the State might have. This approach aims to inculcate more community participation in the decision-making and implementation of policies or conventions (Bowen, Newenham-Kahindi, & Herremans, 2010) (O'Faircheallaigh, 2015). A successful bottom-up approach would be:
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Ample involvement of the local stakeholders in the decision-making process.
Governments and international organizations gaining community trust.
Development (from a grass-root level) viewed singularly without any other ulterior motives.
Combating the ineffectiveness of international organizations - as presented by neorealism.
Using the bottom-up approach
The bottom-up approach ensures that the key stakeholders are involved in the decision-making process for development. A classic example of the same can be seen in the Northern State of Uttarakhand in India, where the State government launched SANKALP (Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion) - a skill development project (MSDE, Government of India, 2018). To implement this project in Uttarakhand and in pertinence to SDG 8 of sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work for all, the Uttarakhand State government sought assistance from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to upskill the youth in Uttarakhand.
For the same, the organization used a bottom-up approach which entailed asking the youth about the training they needed to use their skills to the optimum level. Once the organization was made aware of the same, it attempted to facilitate the formulation of better policies and enhance the pre-existing ones. In other words, the affected stakeholders, i.e., the youth, were involved in decision-making with the help of the international organization, i.e., UNDP. With the help of this initiative, the Uttarakhand State government was able to secure the community's trust while ensuring that the SDG targets were met.
While SANKALP is just one such scheme that exemplifies a bottom-up approach, it is pertinent to highlight that it poses challenges to governmental structures and international organizations. One such challenge could be the existence of numerous ideologies that may slow down the process of achieving development or getting closer to it.
Conclusion
With the help of research-informed, examples cited, and ideology expressed, this article highlighted how a bottom-up approach could potentially ensure the effectiveness of international organizations. Thus, giving paramount importance to development as the primary agenda.
In the emerging world order, States continue to have the self-interest to advance development; the same can be witnessed through initiatives such as the Belt-Road Initiative by China and the Build Back Better World by the US. It is observed that the reasons for China to launch the BRI have, with time, taken the form of a debt-trap policy. Furthermore, to combat a Chinese takeover, the world is witnessing the launch of a soft development initiative - the B3W by the US. The question remains - is the world genuinely moving towards development, or are States advancing their agendas through development?
The answer to this question leads to a greater debate better tackled by the theories of international relations. Nevertheless, multilateralism and development are two sides of the same coin. It is essential to highlight that just like the aforementioned, development and a bottom-up approach also find a co-existing relationship with one another. To achieve the SDGs, the States need to keep aside their respective agendas and make development the primary goal so that the world is closer to sustainability.
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