We note a disconcerting disconnect at the annual SDG meet at the UN between what governments say in New York and that they do at home. The German government is a prime example. Its 2025 SDG report is good, covers many themes and is honest on shortcomings (it was actually penned by the preceding government…
Read MoreCategory: ideas & commentaries
Watching the 2025 global commitments pipeline
Multilateralism is weak (to put it mildly), but global summitry remains strong in 2025 nevertheless, with a string of meetings at heads of state/government level, and forceful progressive civil society presence and pressure. Thus, for instance, feminists celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action at the Commission on the Status of Women…
Read MoreILO conference on regulating for decent work
As is well-known, SDG8 is devoted to full and productive employment and decent work for all. The Elgar Companion to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals, edited by Madelaine Moore, Christoph Scherrer, and Marcel van der Linden, unpacks this as a host of methodological, policy and political challenges. Questions include: How is unemployment…
Read MoreThe centrality of work that is decent
The majority of adults – 2 billion workers – are caught in the so-called informal economy, with the trend towards casualisation of work tendentially increasing this number. Women are particularly affected, both because of the gendered inequitable nature of their employment, and their multiple roles in the care economy, as are other socially marginalised groups.…
Read MoreWhy care about care?
As mentioned in an earlier post, the UN and its member countries are preparing a World Summit for Social Development, to take place in November in Doha, 30 years after the original social summit (often referred to as the Copenhagen Summit). The geopolitical situation has deteriorated palpably on all counts since then. But, we also…
Read MoreUN Summit for Social Development in Doha
30 years ago, the UN convened a summit for social development, devoted to social justice, decent work, social integration and participation. This November, a – much weakened – UN will convene a review summit in Doha, Qatar, 4-6 November. As Isabel Ortiz, Odile Frank and I argue in our Global Social Justice op-ed, published in…
Read MoreConference Panel on the Challenges of Decent Work and the SDGs
Chair(s): Christoph Scherrer (University of Kassel, Germany)Discussant(s): Nicolas Pons-Vignon (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland) The panel highlights contributions from The Elgar Companion to Decent Work and the Sustainable Development Goals, edited by Madelaine Moore, Christoph Scherrer and Marcel van der Linden. This reader critically investigates the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda and how it relates to…
Read MoreA summary of the Hans Singer Symposium
The City of Wuppertal, the Johannes Rau Research Community and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy convened a symposium on the legacy of Professor Hans Singer (1910-2006) in early May 2025. Wuppertal is an understated locus of ideas, innovation and social reform. In the industrial revolution, it was a centre of weaving and…
Read MoreMay 2025: Remembering the persecuted
80 years ago, Germany was liberated from Nazi fascism, and in this spirit, there are many commemorative events this month. One that touched me deeply was a concert on the eve of 8 May, with a haunting piece composed by Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963). It was one of his compositions dedicated to the concentration camp…
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Comments on The Handbook on Child Poverty and Inequality
As children and young people are murdered, on a daily basis, in Gaza, Myanmar, Nepal, Sudan and many other countries, does it even make sense to do research? What effect can this have? The purpose of committed research course is to document inequities, uncover and analyse systemic issues, chart existing policies and their impact, and…
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