The document discusses governance challenges for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It addresses lack of effective governance, insights into how governance actors interact across scales and concepts, and efforts to reduce barriers and increase drivers of governance. It outlines experimentalist and multi-level governance involving traditional actors like governments and new actors like citizens, corporations, and knowledge institutions. It argues for moving beyond "cockpit-ism" where top-down steering alone cannot solve problems, and that the SDGs must target multiple agents of change. The document proposes theoretical frameworks for analyzing power, knowledge, norms, and their linkages to improve sustainability governance.

1. Governance
for the SDGs
International University in Geneva
Dr. Joachim Monkelbaan

2. Today
1. Governance for the SDGs
2. Transition management
3. Metagovernance
4. Experimentalist governance
5. Stakeholders
6. Beyond cockpit-ism

5. Challenges in
governance
for the SDGs
Lack of:
•Effective governance
•Insights into interplay
between governance
actors, scales, and
concepts
•Efforts to weaken barriers
and strengthen drivers

12. Experimentalist
governance

14. Stakeholders
Traditional, hierarchical:
• Local governments: cities
• National governments
• IGOs
• Climate regime complex
& climate clubs

15. Non-traditional, multi-level:
• Media: internet, entertainment and advertisements
• Knowledge institutions: boundary organisations
• Private corporations
• NGOs
• Empowered citizens: growing middle class
• Judiciary
• Prominent individuals

16. Beyond
Cockpit-ism
“cockpit-ism”: the illusion
that top-down steering by
governments and
intergovernmental
organizations alone can
address global problems.
Summits like Rio+20 are
highlights in global
processes—gatherings of
national leaders that
symbolically function as a
“cockpit” from which
international policy
directions are formulated
in a top-down logic of
steering.
the SDGs need to target
not only governments, but
other agents of change
such as businesses, cities,
citizens and civil society
Planetary boundaries, safe
and just operating space,
energetic society, and
green competition

19. Any questions?
jmonkelbaan@iun.ch

20. Ways forward
International University in Geneva
Dr. Joachim Monkelbaan

22. Theoretical pillars
and indicator frames
Power:
1. Leadership
2. relations
3. empowerment
Knowledge:
1. Knowledge cooperation
2. adaptiveness and resilience
3. reflexivity
Norms&values:
1. justice&fairness
2. trust (social capital and legitimacy/accountability)
3. inclusiveness&pluralism

23. Linkages
K&N: trust-knowledge diffusion;
P&N: moral leadership;
K&P: power as distribution of
knowledge, knowledge created by
powerful, influence power through
knowledge

24. Inferences on
improving
sustainability
governance
Inference 1: Considering
behavioural insights
Inference 2: Addressing
complexity through systems
deliberations
Inference 3: Mobilizing ‘crisis’
for change and collective action

25. Theory U

26. Inferences on
improving
sustainability
governance
Inference 1: Considering
behavioural insights
Inference 2: Addressing
complexity through systems
deliberations
Inference 3: Mobilizing ‘crisis’
for change and collective action

27. Cynefin
framework

30. AQAL

31. Inferences on
improving
sustainability
governance
Inference 1: Considering
behavioural insights
Inference 2: Addressing
complexity through systems
deliberations
Inference 3: Mobilizing ‘crisis’
for change and collective action

33. Conclusions
Proximate factors:
self-interest, institutional, technology and innovation, crisis, actors
Ultimate factors:
behavioural, power (empowerment, leadership, vested interests,
democracy), knowledge (science-policy interface, has limits,
uncertainty, reflexivity), norms and values(diversity, justice)

34. SDGs

35. Any questions?
jmonkelbaan@iun.ch