The High‐Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development: Orchestration by Default and Design
| Published date | 01 September 2015 |
| Author | Steven Bernstein,Kenneth W. Abbott |
| Date | 01 September 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12199 |
The High-Level Political Forum on
Sustainable Development: Orchestration by
Default and Design
Kenneth W. Abbott
Arizona State University
Steven Bernstein
University of Toronto
Abstract
The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development is a central element in the emerging governance
architecture for sustainable development. Established at the 2012 United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustainable
Development, the HLPF has a dauntingly expansive mandate –including setting the sustainable development agenda;
enhancing integration, coordination and coherence across the UN system; and following up all sustainable develop-
ment goals and commitments. Yet it has been granted limited authority and few material resources. In these circum-
stances, the HLPF must rely on the governance strategy of ‘orchestration’: working indirectly through intermediary
organizations, and using soft modes of influence to support and guide their actions. The forum’s design suggests that
states intended it to pursue this approach. We identify potential intermediaries and techniques of orchestration, and
assess whether the HLPF can successfully act as an orchestrator.
Policy Implications
•The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on sustainable development has limited authority and modest resources. It
must therefore employ the strategy of ‘orchestration,’working through other organizations and utilizing soft means
of influence.
•The HLPF’s unique structure, circumstances of its creation and mandate to enhance the integration and coherence
of economic, social and environmental policies should provide it with legitimacy, focality and political weight, cru-
cial attributes of successful orchestrators. Ongoing high-level participation and a focused agenda, e.g., based on
the sustainable development goals (SDGs), will enhance these attributes.
•Agenda setting, endorsement, catalyzing financial support, convening, coordination and review will be the primary
techniques of orchestration for the HLPF.
•United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Chief Executives Board, and regional commissions will
be important intermediaries in promoting policy coherence across the UN system, with international economic
institutions and within countries.
•The HLPF can also engage, support and steer partnerships, action networks and transnational organizations, impor-
tant intermediaries in implementing sustainable development goals and commitments.
•Conducting robust country reviews, providing learning opportunities for governments and nonstate organizations,
and assembling and disseminating policy-relevant scientific knowledge on sustainable development will be among
the HLPF’s most direct sources of influence and effectiveness.
•Threats to the HLPF’s autonomous agenda-setting capacity and to stakeholder participation, as well as North–South
conflict, could jeopardize successful orchestration.
The 2012 United Nations (UN) Conference on Sustain-
able Development (Rio+20) was the third global summit
since 1992 to attempt to infuse an integrated vision of
sustainable development into global governance. Expec-
tations were understandably low that this iteration
would significantly narrow the persistent gap between
rhetoric and practice (Bernstein, 2013a). As measured by
criteria such as treaties signed or binding commitments
adopted (none and none), the outcome matched
expectations.
©2015 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Global Policy (2015) 6:3 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12199
Global Policy Volume 6 . Issue 3 . September 2015
222
Research Article
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