Sustainable Development Goals
Ilias Bantekas, Akestoridi Katerina
Abstract
Abstract This introductory chapter sheds light on the historical and political realities underpinning the development movement that began in the 1980s and which ultimately culminated in the first coordinated effort towards global development objectives, firstly in the form of the MDGs as currently transformed into the SDGs. In doing so, the chapter sets the background for readers when navigating the analysis of each goal since it provides insight into stakeholders’ political effort to agree on the current development paradigm and demonstrates why avoiding language that gives rise to obligations under international law has been preferred. Even so, the SDGs have taken on a life of their own and in the process their legal nature has followed a path that straddles between politics and law and most importantly international human rights law. This chapter attempts to show how this process began and where we now stand in terms of both the legal and political context.