The Sustainable Development Goals: A New Space for Action

The article trace the history and trajectory of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The guiding questions are whether the SDGs constitute a possible space or agenda for a profound paradigm shift in ‘development’ thinking and practice or, to put it differently, whether the SDGs have the potential to rethink the narrow, economic and outdated ‘western’ concepts of 'development' which are still embedded in the idea of continous growth. For understanding the new agenda a brief debate of the history of 'development' and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is necessary before discussing the weaknesses and strengths of the SDGs and thus the guiding questions.