The UN’s quixotic crusade

Sep 25, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are among the loftiest ideals ever set to paper. Encapsulated in 17 sweeping objectives, from ending poverty to preserving the planet, they embody the eternal optimism of multilateral diplomacy, the belief that coordinated global effort can conquer even the most entrenched of human challenges. By 2030, we were told, the world would be on a vastly different trajectory—poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, and injustice would be relics of a distant, benighted past.

Yet as we approach the midpoint of this self-imposed deadline, it is increasingly clear that these goals are slipping further from our grasp. The bold vision that galvanized 193 countries now seems to be fading into the fog of unrealized aspirations. And therein lies the rub: the SDGs were doomed from the outset, not because of their ambition, but because of their naiveté. They have become the global equivalent of New Year’s resolutions—grandly announced, but rarely achieved.

The problem is not that the world doesn’t want a future free from poverty and inequality. The problem is the UN’s insistence on framing development as something that can be reconciled with capitalism’s rapacious thirst for profit. The SDGs, in their formulation, are a prime example of what happens when noble intentions clash with an economic system that thrives on exploitation, inequality, and environmental degradation.

It’s no secret that the world will fall far short of meeting the SDGs by 2030. In fact, we may not meet them in 2040 or even 2050. The reasons for this failure are both complex and predictable. First and foremost is the simple fact that countries signed onto these goals with little intention of fully committing to them. It’s easy to nod along at a UN summit, to declare solemnly that poverty must be eradicated, that climate change must be stopped, that everyone has the right to education, healthcare, and a dignified life. It’s another thing entirely to go back home and implement policies that make these goals a reality.

The truth is that domestic concerns always take precedence. Governments are ultimately beholden to their electorates, not to the UN General Assembly. And when it comes to making tough choices between reducing carbon emissions or stimulating economic growth, between funding social programmes or cutting taxes, the latter will almost always win out. Local political and economic considerations inevitably trump international commitments.

This is not a failure of individual governments, but of the entire framework upon which the SDGs are built. The UN’s attempt to engineer a global consensus on development ignores the messy realities of nation-states, whose priorities often lie elsewhere. Countries do not function as parts of a well-oiled global machine; they are driven by their own internal logics, which frequently run counter to the lofty ideals set forth in New York conference rooms.

But the deeper problem with the SDGs is their reliance on a fundamentally flawed concept of development—one that is inextricably tied to the very economic system that perpetuates the inequalities the goals aim to eradicate. The SDGs, for all their rhetoric about justice and sustainability, are ultimately premised on the idea that development can coexist with capitalism, that the relentless pursuit of profit can somehow be aligned with the well-being of people and the planet.

This is a fiction. Capitalism, in its neoliberal form, thrives on the exploitation of labor, the extraction of natural resources, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few. It is, by its very nature, antithetical to the goals of equality, sustainability, and human flourishing. The SDGs, by contrast, are a soft gloss over the harsh realities of a system that does not care for such things. They present development as something that can be achieved within the existing structures of global capitalism, when in fact those very structures are the reason development is stymied.

Consider, for instance, Goal 8: “Decent Work and Economic Growth.” The idea here is that economic growth can provide the resources needed to lift people out of poverty and provide them with dignified employment. Yet in a global economy dominated by multinational corporations and speculative finance, economic growth often leads to greater inequality, environmental destruction, and the degradation of labor conditions. The SDGs’ insistence on coupling growth with development is symptomatic of the UN’s unwillingness to confront the fact that capitalism is the problem, not the solution.

Another flaw in the SDG framework is its assumption that a global, one-size-fits-all solution can be applied to vastly different national contexts. The problems facing wealthy industrialized nations are not the same as those confronting impoverished countries in the Global South. Yet the SDGs make little distinction between them, offering the same set of goals to countries at radically different stages of development, with vastly different resources and challenges.

For a country like the United States, achieving universal healthcare or gender equality is largely a matter of political will. The infrastructure and wealth exist to make these goals achievable. But for a country like Haiti, where basic services are already stretched to the breaking point, achieving the same outcomes requires a level of economic and social transformation that is simply not feasible within the current global order. The SDGs, in their universality, fail to account for the specificities of national contexts, assuming instead that a global neoliberal framework can work for all.

Perhaps the most glaring contradiction in the SDG agenda lies in its insistence on sustainability while promoting a system that is inherently unsustainable. Neoliberal capitalism, with its fixation on growth and consumption, is driving the planet toward ecological collapse. The same corporations that pledge to reduce carbon emissions are the ones profiting from industries most responsible for climate change. The same governments that sign onto the Paris Agreement are the ones subsidizing fossil fuel extraction.

The SDGs, in their attempt to reconcile development with sustainability, are fighting a losing battle. We cannot continue to pursue economic growth at all costs while simultaneously claiming to protect the environment. The very premise of endless growth is incompatible with the finite resources of the planet. And yet the SDGs refuse to acknowledge this fundamental truth, clinging instead to the hope that technological innovation or market-based solutions will somehow resolve the contradictions of capitalism.

The UN’s Summit of the Future, being hosted this week, represents a desperate attempt to rescue Agenda 2030 from the dustbin of history. But the writing is already on the wall. The SDGs will not be achieved— not in 2030, or in 2040 or in 2050. The international community will continue to pay lip service to these goals while pursuing policies that undermine them. The fundamental flaw lies not in the goals themselves, but in the system, they are designed to operate within. Development, true development, is not compatible with neoliberal capitalism. The SDGs, for all their noble intentions, were an attempt to impose a global neoliberal solution in the name of development. And that is why they will fail.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• aspirations, crusade, optimism, Peeping Tom, United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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