The Law-Sustainable Development Nexus in the Agenda 2030 and European Consensus for Development: Substance, Deficiencies and the Future

Abstract

Both the Agenda 2030 and the EU’s policy documents, directed to the implementation thereof, point to the ‘inter-linkages between the Goals’, ‘integrated nature of the Goals’, ‘cross-cutting action areas’ and Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development. In view of this, and the prominence of the law-development nexus problematique in development economics theory, this paper aims to explore the substance of the law-sustainable development nexus in the Agenda 2030 and the new European Consensus for Development. In theoretical terms, the study is based on the insights from the key development economics theories (‘integration
through law’, modernisation theory, international dependence and world systems theories, neoclassicism and governance). Methodologically, the research combines ‘black letter law’ approach and document analysis.