Post 2015: a new era of accountability?

Abstract

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were criticised for failing to address the issue of governance, and the associated notions of responsibility and accountability. The Sustainable Development Goals, we argue, need to recognise the structural constraints facing poor countries – the power imbalances in the global economic system that limit their ability to promote the prosperity and well-being of their people, as was clearly brought out by the Commission on Global Governance for Health, of which we were both members [Ottersen, O. P., J. Dasgupta, C. Blouin, Paulo Buss, Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong, Julio Frenk, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, et al. 2014. “The Political Origins of Health Inequality: Prospects for Change.” Lancet 383: 630–667]. This article is divided into three parts. We begin by making the case for a global justice perspective which emphasises the responsibility – and hence also accountability – of international organisations and rule-making bodies. We next demonstrate the limitations of accountability mechanisms of the type adopted in the MDGs. We conclude by arguing for a new approach to accountability that may be better suited to the post-2015 era.

Keywords:

• global governance
• social justice
• Sustainable Development Goals
• accountability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Sakiko Fukuda-Parr is professor of International Affairs at The New School. Her current research interests focus on global goals, ideas in international development, and human rights. She is Vice Chair of the UN Committee on Development Policy, and is member of the Lancet/University of Oslo Panel on Global Governance for Health. Her recent publications include Fulfilling Social and Economic Rights (2015 OUP with T. Lawson-Remer and S. Randolph), MDGs, Capabilities and Human Rights: The Power of Ideas to Shape Agendas (2015 Routledge, edited with A. Yamin), and Human Rights and the Capabilities Approach: An Interdisciplinary Conversation (2013 Routledge, edited with P. Vizard and D. Elson).

Desmond McNeill is the Director of the Research School at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo. He chairs the Lancet/University of Oslo Panel on Global Governance for Health and is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems. His research interests include governance, global ethics, and the relationship between research and policy. Recent books are Protecting the World's Children: Immunisation Policies and Practices (edited with S. Roalkvam and S. Blume, Oxford University Press, 2013) and Global Poverty, Ethics and Human Rights (with A St. Clair, Routledge, 2009).

Notes

1. Expanded to 21 targets and 60 indicators in 2005. The original goals (United Nations Secretary General 2001) may be found 55 pages forward at http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/56/a56326.pdf; revisions were introduced following the UN Summit session of 2005.