New article in Sustainable Development

Departing from a seminal paper by Måns Nilsson et al, the article concludes that the discourse about SDG interactions has been characterized by "Prescriptive Postivism", treating the challenge of sustainable development as a management problem rather than as an existential threat. That it puts faith in research and demonstrates transactionality and internalised fragmentation. Furthermore, the analysis shows that researchers frequently adopt directive language and advocate technical or managerial fixes; solving trade-offs with adequate financial resources, proper governance, and science. Equity is treated as instrumental, only what is measurable is acknowledged, and calls for integration rarely go beyond coordination. The paper highlights overlooked perspectives of stewardship that considers pluralism and treats equity, justice and nature as intrinsic.

The paper is a result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers within UUniCORN. After an initial analysis by the two first authors, all co-authors engaged in a validation workshop to discuss the findings and refine the analysis.

It has been a very stimulating process to work on this study together with colleagues from different disciplines, all bringing different perspectives to the analysis, says Mats Målqvist, Director of UUniCORN who has led the process together with Gin Dupont.