Higher education and sustainable development goal 16 in fragile and conflict-affected contexts
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Higher education and sustainable development goal 16 in fragile and conflict‑affected contexts Sansom Milton1
© The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Sustainable Development Goal 16 commits to ‘promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels’. While the concerns of SDG16 with violence reduction, rule of law, and governance are relevant to all societies, this paper focuses on fragile and conflict-affected countries, many of which have the hardest task in achieving SDG16. It analyses how higher education can contribute towards—or detract from—SDG16 through teaching, research, governance, and external leadership. It then analyses four dynamics influencing the agency of universities in fragile and conflict-affected contexts in engaging with SDG16: resource mobilisation and the public good; securitisation; academic freedom, insecurity, and politicisation; and tensions between demands for localisation and the universalising logics of liberal peacebuilding models and the SDGs. Keywords Higher education · Sustainable development goals · SDG16 · Peace · Governance · Fragile states
Introduction The Sustainable Development Goals, launched in 2015, are notable for the inclusion of under-analysed issues in global development norms including the environment and quality education. In particular, SDG16 on peace, justice, and inclusion is a bold advancement in a field accustomed to viewing these issues as ‘political’ and outside the remit of development policy. Whilst the post-2015 agenda provides an improved framework for addressing inter-connected issues of conflict and development, the post-2015 world has become less peaceful for the first time in a generation. In 2014, the number of battlefield deaths increased, reversing a long decline to reach the highest level since the end of the Cold War (Dupuy et al 2016). Whilst this alarming statistic has fallen by 49% between 2014 and 2018, in 2018, the number of state-based armed conflicts was much higher than a decade ago (Strand et al 2019). * Sansom Milton [email protected] 1
Researcher, Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Doha, Qatar
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Post-2015 achievement has been mixed. Over the initial 4 years, ‘available data indicates that progress towards SDG16 so far is ‘uneven’ at best’ (Bhargava et al 2019, p.vi). Whilst a key SDG message is to leave no one behind, fragile states—those with ‘a fundamental failure of the state to perform functions necessary to meet citizens’ basic needs and expectations’ (Mcloughlin 2012, p.9)—are at particular risk, with only 18% ‘on track’ to meet selected SDG targets related to meeting basic needs compared to 35% of low- and middle-income countries (Samman et al. 2018). Given the scale of SDG-related challenges facing fragile and conflict-affected states, there is need for research on how to harness existing resources tow
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