Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

International development partners (traditional
donors, SSc providers and others) should
support governments in their efforts to raise
domestic resources.
Donor countries should improve the level and
the effectiveness of their development assistance.
mechanisms should be established to enhance
the transparency of all international development
finance to improve its deployment.
Main Message 8: More extensive international
collective action is required
achieving the vision of the millennium Declaration
will require considerably greater international
collective action through global public policies.
Such collective action is essential to establish an
international environment that is conducive to
inclusive and sustainable development and tackle
global issues that affect the ability of individual
countries to achieve development outcomes (e.g.
in the areas of development finance, trade and
investment, and migration).
Greater international collective action is needed
to realise the vision set out in the millennium
Declaration. Specific areas in which there is an
urgent need to establish or improve international
regimes include trade, financial regulation,
migration and climate change.
10.4.2 Protecting policy space and
ownership
While there are strong international, regional and
national linkages, the four case studies (chapter
2) showed that development progress depends
primarily on national institutions, government
policies and policy reforms – all factors that can
either encourage or obstruct economic growth and
social distribution. this underlines the importance
of sufficient national (and also sub-national or
local) ‘policy space’, which refers to the need for
all countries to have the opportunity to adopt
policies and strategies that they and their various
stakeholders develop, own and implement. the
national level is also the cornerstone of all efforts
for improved international cooperation (Kaul,
2013) and national governments should therefore
be free to determine their own policies and
development trajectories.
a post-2015 framework will need to balance these
linkages from the national to the international
level, especially in overcoming coordination
issues that can be solved through better
international cooperation. Kaul (2013) suggests
that it is important to stress that ‘in areas of
policy interdependence and GpG-type challenges
effective international cooperation is in states’
own enlightened self interest’, yet states are often
reluctant to engage in cooperation because they
are wary of it restricting their sovereignty. She
proposes the notion of ‘smart sovereignty’ as a
way to overcome this reluctance. the principle of
smart sovereignty should apply to all governments,
both to their duties towards their own citizens
and to their responsibilities in external relations.
It suggests that national policy-makers should not
shun international cooperation, but engage in it
selectively depending on where it represents the
best means to meet national priorities and give
their citizens better development and growth
conditions. Governments have the freedom to
pursue their own policies, but need to respect
the sovereignty of other countries or groups of
countries. this echoes the notion of pcD whereby
governments must ensure that their policies
(in whatever domain) do not undermine the
development opportunities for other countries.
at the national level, oDa is clearly vital to many
poor countries in tackling development, but greater
progress is achieved where governments take the
lead and donors take more of a back seat, align with
the government’s policies and use country systems.
this report’s four case studies illustrate that the
most aid-dependent countries and those needing
poSt-2015: Global actIon For an IncluSIvE anD SuStaInablE FuturE
A post-2015
framework will
need to balance
these linkages
from the
national to the
international
level, especially
in overcoming
coordination
issues that can
be solved
through better
international
cooperation.
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