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Indicator accountability or policy shrinking? Multistakeholder partnerships in reviews of the sustainable development goals

Bexell, Magdalena LU orcid (2024) In Global Policy
Abstract
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their 169 targets and 231 indicators epitomise the trend of global governance by numbers. This article suggests the notion of a global “indicator reporting trajectory” that is shaped by three main elements: the politics of indicators, a reporting infrastructure and indicator advocacy. I propose that indicator reporting trajectories may result either in policy shrinking or in indicator accountability. The idea of an indicatory reporting trajectory is empirically illustrated with the case of indicators on multistakeholder partnerships of SDG 17. High expectations are put on such partnerships to accelerate SDG realization, but they face several accountability challenges. The analysis shows how... (More)
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their 169 targets and 231 indicators epitomise the trend of global governance by numbers. This article suggests the notion of a global “indicator reporting trajectory” that is shaped by three main elements: the politics of indicators, a reporting infrastructure and indicator advocacy. I propose that indicator reporting trajectories may result either in policy shrinking or in indicator accountability. The idea of an indicatory reporting trajectory is empirically illustrated with the case of indicators on multistakeholder partnerships of SDG 17. High expectations are put on such partnerships to accelerate SDG realization, but they face several accountability challenges. The analysis shows how indicators that capture globally agreed (but contested) goals can silently disappear due to a lack of data and measurability during long follow-up processes. I argue that there is a great risk for policy shrinking with regard to multistakeholder partnerships under SDG 17 and that this has implications for accountability and, in the end, for the realization of the 2030 Agenda. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
in
Global Policy
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85185448601
ISSN
1758-5899
DOI
10.1111/1758-5899.13348
project
Transformative partnerships for sustainable development. Assessing synergies, effectiveness, and legitimacy of UN multistakeholder partnerships for the 2030 Agenda
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
de83a3ff-e3cf-49a5-adbb-2c1ea6709cff
date added to LUP
2024-02-14 08:14:27
date last changed
2024-03-20 12:18:15
@article{de83a3ff-e3cf-49a5-adbb-2c1ea6709cff,
  abstract     = {{The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with their 169 targets and 231 indicators epitomise the trend of global governance by numbers. This article suggests the notion of a global “indicator reporting trajectory” that is shaped by three main elements: the politics of indicators, a reporting infrastructure and indicator advocacy. I propose that indicator reporting trajectories may result either in policy shrinking or in indicator accountability. The idea of an indicatory reporting trajectory is empirically illustrated with the case of indicators on multistakeholder partnerships of SDG 17. High expectations are put on such partnerships to accelerate SDG realization, but they face several accountability challenges. The analysis shows how indicators that capture globally agreed (but contested) goals can silently disappear due to a lack of data and measurability during long follow-up processes. I argue that there is a great risk for policy shrinking with regard to multistakeholder partnerships under SDG 17 and that this has implications for accountability and, in the end, for the realization of the 2030 Agenda.}},
  author       = {{Bexell, Magdalena}},
  issn         = {{1758-5899}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Global Policy}},
  title        = {{Indicator accountability or policy shrinking? Multistakeholder partnerships in reviews of the sustainable development goals}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13348}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/1758-5899.13348}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}