Abstract:
Achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at country and local levels – and ensuring ‘no one is left behind’ - requires that nation states commit to solving complex social and societal challenges through collaborative, democratic means. Technocratic and bureaucratic procedures alone are insufficient. In addition to satisfying international actors, governments must discharge integrated democratic accountability through inclusive stakeholder engagement with and between diverse and locally embedded social actors and institutions. Democratic accountability requires recognising and preserving social complexity and plurality mediated through public dialogues between actors and institutions. Concurrently, global initiatives like the SDGs offer opportunities for the UN’s member states to show their sincerity to international principles and standards while engaging with local practices that promote democratic means of resolution and policy implementation.
