SDGs, Foreign Ministries and the Art of Partnering with the Private Sector
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12563 |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
SDGs, Foreign Ministries and the Art of
Partnering with the Private Sector
Ries Kamphof
Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’and Leiden University
Jan Melissen
Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’, Leiden University and
University of Antwerp
Abstract
Government policies supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and sustainability criteria, as well as commercial
goals, aim at an enabling multi-actor environment. However, they do not prevent friction, lack of mutual understanding and
cultural clashes with the private sector. We argue that this relational issue is a considerable and relatively neglected concern,
albeit readily recognized by practitioners, and is potentially obstructing the achievement of the United Nations’2030 Agenda
and the SDGs. It also deserves more scholarly attention. In articulating and discussing public–private relations, in this explora-
tory project we point to a theoretical challenge that touches on the ontological and epistemological core of international
studies. Apart from analysing relevant literatures, we have benefited from varied data collection with input from policy makers,
diplomats, business representatives and consulted experts across cultures. Our starting point is that public–private partner-
ships that are necessary to reach the targets of the UN’s 2030 Agenda pose a test for ministries of foreign affairs (MFAs).
These new kinds of SDG partnerships differ from early 21st-century public–private partnerships (PPPs) in the field of develop-
ment cooperation. Leaving aside risk factors facing companies in our research, we identify three main SDG partnership puzzles
for government.
Policy Implications
•Lessons can be learned from early 21st-century PPPs, but SDG partnerships are different: they are universal in scope; more
intrusive in terms of their impact on a multi-stakeholder diplomatic process; and they aim at systemic innovation.
•MFAs should welcome the SDG process as an opportunity for experimentation with innovation in networked diplomatic
practice, based on the principle of trading resources within complex policy networks, which is of much broader relevance
for diplomacy today. SDG multi-stakeholder partnerships pose specific challenges for hierarchical work routines in foreign
ministries. They call for greater context awareness of global issues, a more explicit whole-of-government approach and
horizontal knowledge sharing.
•Foreign ministries are advised to keep an eye on the changing environments in which SDGs are being debated: recent
transnational trends associated with anti-elitism and protectionism challenge the SDGs, while progressive digitization and
the rise of information and communication technologies (ICTs) call for more government dialogue with the technology
sector.
•The private and public sectors evaluate SDG partnerships differently, creating the risk of a gulf between them when it
comes to agreeing on details rather than general policies. Both should aim at improving qualitative partnership-effective-
ness indicators.
•Government representatives need to be aware of the double-hatted role of private-sector companies combining their
‘public’shareholder role with lobbying interests and practices that run counter to sustainable development principles.
A relational perspective
This article is to be understood as an empirical study analys-
ing the debate about the Sustainable Development Goals
and ‘partnerships’in terms of relations between public and
private-sector actors. The central but normatively laden term
‘partnership’has all too often been adopted without much
attention to a shared definition or common criteria under-
pinning the partnerships. Earlier findings in conceptual and
prescriptive studies about PPPs in the early 21st century
contain lessons that are relevant to the SDG debate (Brinker-
hoff and Brinkerhoff, 2011; Kessler and Slingerland, 2015;
Jomo et al., 2016; Pattberg et al., 2012; Reich, 2002). SDG
partnerships are, however, more ambitious than these early
21st-century PPPs, in that they will affect the work and
cooperation of multiple actors. SDG partnerships take on a
special quality and acquire a distinct diplomatic dimension,
in that they are co-creations framed by governments and
Global Policy (2018) 9:3 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12563 ©2018 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Global Policy Volume 9 . Issue 3 . September 2018 327
Research Article
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