Normative coherence for development: What relevance for responsive regionalism?

Motivation The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for transformative development rooted in international norms, such as human rights, rule of law, and gender equality. Often, however, nation‐states do not implement these norms to the extent to which they are envisaged. Against this backdrop, regions have the potential to fill this implementation vacuum. Purpose Without a normative dimension, transformative development risks reproducing traditional economic development. In this special issue we focus on norm implementation in different world regions through the lens of normative coherence for development. Methods and approach The articles in this special issue all use qualitative methods, such as text analysis and in‐depth interviews. Given the different regional contexts, each article has its own approach to normative coherence for development depending on the regional normative framework. Findings This special issue indicates that regions are an important interlocutor between the global, national, and sub‐national level and, as such, are crucial for implementing the sustainable development agenda. The articles show, however, that to date normative coherence for development has not been achieved due to overriding priorities and technical approaches to policy coherence for development. Policy implications With this special issue we aim to draw more attention to the topic of normative coherence for development and show that policies need to be adjusted in order to reflect the normative dimension of sustainable development.