IRS 380 Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development has become a commonplace term and a major reference point in global as well as national politics of most countries. The overarching 2015 global framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) committed the UN member states, international organizations as well as NGOs, business and other stakeholders to implement their strategies and cohere their activities/policies along 17 broad areas ranging from poverty, inequalities to environment, peace and good governance.

This course combines a variety of teaching methods to facilitate an understanding of how this concept evolved in international politics and what are its vision, major components, concrete demonstrations and key challenges, with emphasis on the EU level. A special focus is given to understanding the global agenda and its interplay with students' own perspective. In the context of implementation, the course, drawing on the practical experience of a global (sustainable) development think-tank, invites students to get a deeper insight into and critically explore selected issues key to the success of the sustainable development agenda: climate change, food security, illicit financial flows (tax justice) and migration. These agendas, each advanced in international policy-making to a different degree, demand different approaches if meaningful impact is to be achieved. Tapping into the long-standing experience of Glopolis analysts, campaigners and trainers in this regard, supported by a range of international documents, scholarly works and policy case studies, the course outlines a framework for understanding the dynamics and inter-linkages between the four key issues and supports students integrated thinking and practice.