The course offers an inter-disciplinary perspective on important social, economic and environmental problems that are expressed through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It provides an overview of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its operationalization through available indicators, and it ultimately reviews 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Following the introduction to the topic, each 2-hour session will be dedicated to one of them providing a portrait of their meaning, theoretical underpinning, implementation and future agenda. The course material includes the textbook ‘The age of sustainable development’ (Sachs, 2015) and the UNDP reports. The topics covered include but do not limit to poverty and inequality, health and wellbeing of nations, education policies, climate change and economic growth. Occasionally SDG Progress Reports, Global sustainable development reports and the global SDG database will be consulted.
Course Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
The course is organized in a mixed lecture-discussion format and contains group work.
Assessment Methods
Attending students: The course will be assessed with group work (20%) and a written exam (80%).
Non attending students:The course will be assessed with a written exam.
Texts
Mandatory Sachs, J. D. (2015). The Age of Sustainable Development. Columbia University Press (Available in the library and online through the digital library Perlego) Sachs, J. D. (2020). 1. Seven Ages of Globalization. In The Ages of Globalization (pp. 1-32). Columbia University Press (available online through the library) Human development report (2019). Gender inequalities beyond averages: Between social norms and power imbalances, chapter 4 Milanovic, B. (2016). Global inequality: A new approach for the age of globalization. Harvard University Press; chapter 1 and 5 (available in the library) Additional Sachs, J. D. (2015). Achieving the sustainable development goals. Journal of International Business Ethics, 8(2), 53-62. Heckman, J. J. (2006). Skill formation and the economics of investing in disadvantaged children. Science, 312(5782), 1900-1902. James, H. (2018). Deglobalization: The rise of disembedded unilateralism. Annual Review of Financial Economics, 10, 219-237. Further readings and course material will be provided during the course.
Contents
Introduction to development goals and their indicators; Perspectives on Poverty and Inequality; Nutrition and food security; Health and wellbeing; Quality education and life-long learning; Gender equality; Sustainable environment (water, energy, oceans, terrestrial ecosystems); Employment and economic growth; Sustainable industrialization; Urban and rural development; Sustainable consumption and production; Climate change and its consequences for sustainable societies; Inclusive institutions; Global co-operation in times of (de) globalization.
