The untapped functions of international cooperation in the age of sustainable development

Abstract

Universality is one of the key novel characteristics of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By applying a functional approach to external policies, this chapter challenges traditional notions of development cooperation and shows that the agenda's means of implementation as well as their application are lopsided towards so-called developing countries. However, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals critically depends on the agenda's implementation also within the so-called developed countries as well as between them. Therefore, the function of development cooperation to shape conditions within other countries by using cooperative and promotional instruments should be exerted also vis-à-vis "developed countries". International cooperation for sustainable development needs to become universal, multimodal, mutual, and transformative if it wants to deliver change, not aid.