Implementing the 2030 Agenda in an integrated way poses new challenges to political institutions and processes. In order to exploit synergies and to mitigate trade-offs between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), innovative governance approaches are needed. National bodies to coordinate...

Investments in climate change mitigation will have to rise massively in the coming years in order to keep the global temperature increase below 1.5°C. Rising levels of investment in mitigation can reduce the impacts of climate change. Yet, they also increase the risk that these investments...

With its unique multilateral assets, the United Nations Development System (UNDS) should be playing a key role in assisting governments and other stakeholders with their implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. But this requires change. Despite improvements in recent...

Global threats to democracy – one of the world’s most important forms of inclusive governance – have been rising recently. This paper assesses the effects of social and economic inequalities on autocratisation, meaning a decline in the democratic qualities of a political regime. The key...

Populism is a style of politics that attacks the existing normative consensus within society, making systematic use of marginalisation and bogeyman tactics. Typical marginalisation strategies target minorities within the population and adopt an anti-scientific world view. Restrictions on civil...

The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires enormous global investment. In developing countries alone, its realisation requires investment of $ 4 trillion a year (UNCTAD, 2014). Since the public sector in developing countries is often unable to mobilise sufficient...