The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Vision: Backsliding, Illiberalism, and the Unlikelihood of the Agenda’s Success

Nadini Persaud () and Ruby Dagher
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Nadini Persaud: Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Bridgetown BB11000, Barbados
Ruby Dagher: School of International Development and Global Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5, Canada

Challenges, 2025, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda has been derailed by various events (e.g., COVID-19, economic crises, democratic backsliding, economic illiberalism, decreasing regard for human rights, and war). These events have diverted attention from the Agenda, and consumed precious limited financial resources that could be used to advance the SDGs. With only five years remaining, this initiative is at serious risk of not achieving its desired objectives and impact. Internal contradictions between the goals, challenges to the funding mechanism, and power imbalances within a country, regionally, and globally need to be addressed. This paper will examine the myriad challenges that countries face in trying to implement the Agenda post COVID-19, including those linked to the actions of developed countries, and explore how important changes to the Agenda could be undertaken all while helping to protect a country’s own policy space.

Keywords: data collection; monitoring and evaluation; policy space; power dynamics; sustainable development goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 C00 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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