Abstract
In this article, we argue that number-making is a mode of imagining political futures – not only futures that are probable but, crucially, futures that are desired. In this way, rather than simply a mode of ‘technicising’ policy challenges, quantification fleshes out the utopian dream of a better world. Global governance is faced with the paradox of, on one hand, the utopian aspiration of the Sustainable Development Goals to create a perfect world (free of poverty, inequality, diseases and climate disaster) and, on the other hand, the dystopian effects of inaction – both tracked carefully through a complex network of indicators. This article focuses on the materiality of the Sustainable Development Goals as a productive device through which a monitoring agenda such as the Sustainable Development Goals has become ever more influential and has led to the emergence of a global public policy space.
| Original language | English |
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| Journal | British Journal of Politics and International Relations |
| Early online date | 13 Nov 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 13 Nov 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This manuscript is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under grant agreement No 715125 METRO (ERC-2016-StG) (‘International Organisations and the Rise of a Global Metrological Field’, 2017–2022, PI: Sotiria Grek).
Keywords
- global public policy
- quantification
- SDGs
- utopia