Collaborating and Competing in Development Agendas: State—Civil Society Tensions in Achieving SDGs

This chapter’s overarching concern is with progression towards the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a dynamic geopolitical environment increasingly characterised by tensions and competition between a number of signatories. The SDGs constitute an aspirational framework of goals and targets concerning economic, social, and environmental development priorities to which all nations committed in Paris in 2015. In doing so, they affirmed their shared recognition of the complexity of global problems and the need for diverse and autonomous actions to reach voluntary and transparent targets. Goal 17 (UN, 2020a) articulates the need for collaborative action through multistakeholder partnerships (public, public–private, and civil society) “that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources” (target 17.16) while “respect[ing] each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development” (target 17.15). A commitment to global collaborative action has always presented challenges for countries influenced by a variety of political ideologies, power structures, and levels of competitive advantage, as noted by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 (WCED, 1987). However, recently, enhanced tensions have arisen concerning the principles of collaboration embedded in the SDGs and the heightened competition exhibited by the West in relation to the rise of China, given geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific.