SDGs and the sources of transformation: local responses to global and poverty crises

ALBERTO D. CIMADAMORE

Mendoza

Congreso; la LVIII Reunión Anual de la Asociación Argentina de Economía Política; 2023

Asociación Argentina de Economía Política

he paper argues that poverty eradication should now be addressed and tackled as a crisis within the broader context of sustainable development. It offers a theoretical explanation of the global structural constraints that have contributed to the crises and persistence of poverty -among other socioeconomic problems-, providing ideas and perspectives on how the implementation of the SDGs at different levels - i.e., subnational or local - can be part of an effective transformation towards a more sustainable world. The reason to concentrate in the local level is the difficulty to find successful stories at the international or national level when dealing with multiple crises at the same time. And when we find a successful case of dealing with at least one of the greatest social challenges in the history of humanity (i.e., poverty), it seems quite difficult to replicate in other contexts. The closeness or proximity local states have with their material components (population, territory, government and institutional order) make its structural influence more perceptible and effective when oriented to effectively deal with market and other institutional failures that disarm societies vis à vis the greatest challenges and crises of our time (poverty, climate change, environmental degradation, etc.).