From Sustainable Development Goals to Basic Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals have attracted both defenders and critics. Composed of seventeen goals and 169 targets, the overly broad scope of the SDGs raises the question of whether there are priorities that need to be set within them. This essay considers the SDGs from the perspective of a “b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEthics & international affairs Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 125 - 137
Main Author Reinert, Kenneth A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.01.2020
Subjects
Accountability
Development policy
Elasticity of demand
Essays
Expenditures
Food security
Health education
Health services
Healthy food
Human rights
Human security
Objectives
Poverty
Primary care
Sanitation
Security services
Social policy
Sustainability
Sustainable development
basic needs
Sustainable Development Goals
basic rights
subsistence rights
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Summary:The Sustainable Development Goals have attracted both defenders and critics. Composed of seventeen goals and 169 targets, the overly broad scope of the SDGs raises the question of whether there are priorities that need to be set within them. This essay considers the SDGs from the perspective of a “basic goods approach” to development policy, which takes a needs-based and basic-subsistence-rights view on policy priorities. It focuses on a subset of SDGs that directly address the provision of nutritious food, clean water, sanitation, health services, education services, and human security services. In doing so, it proposes a set of seven “basic development goals” and ten associated targets. It argues that this more focused approach can better protect basic rights, more effectively contribute to progress on human wellbeing, and make accountability more likely.
ISSN:0892-6794
1747-7093
DOI:10.1017/S0892679420000180