Millennium Development Goals: Tool or token of global social governance?

In this paper we argue that the Millennium Development Goals MDGs experience suggests that Global Social Governance GSG exists and that the MDGs have been an effective tool in creating a global accountability framework despite shortcomings mainly arising in the formulation process. The paper first discusses the historical emergence of the MDGs, leading to questions of ownership and responsibilities of developing and developed countries respectively. Subsequently, we assess whether the MDGs comprehensively reflect development concepts and address the question whether the MDGs had an impact on national policies, and ultimately on peoples lives. Eventually, these questions and their answers are intended to stimulate and inform discussions on the post-2015 development agenda as a - potentially improved - GSG tool. Keywords Millennium Development Goals, Global Social Governance, post-2015 development agenda