Unfortunately no. What the MDGs did was raise the awareness in  both developing and developing countries. We need to remember that the MDGs did have some very good results in many different regions. 

One factor that stifles initiatives such as the MDGs is corruption at all levels in both developing and developed countries. In many developed countries it is excused as just doing business not exploitation yet in developing counties it is condemned. This aspect must be addressed if equality, social development and poverty alleviation

Thanks, I agree in principle with your answer except for preferring to remain optimistic that  sovereign states in both the developed and developing world will work towards achieving SDGs which highlight peace and good governance, as well as  poverty alleviation.  Notably, the root causes of social conflict should also remain a priority given the recent rise in extremist violence we have witnessed globally, See SDGs 10, 11, 16 & 17 ... to name a few

Dear Ade,

your question is very challenging and has got manifold aspects.

Basically, there's a general ethical demand, that people, all over the world, live together in dignity. That means noone has to live in poverty, inequality, discrimination or persecution. In my opinion. If  this general ethical demand should be realised, it has to be put into words, or better this general ethical demand has to be converted into general goals. I emphasise the term "general" intentionally in order to clarify that there is no way to ensure the target fulfillment. The foregoing particularly applies to ethical topics.

So, how to deal with this basic problem. In my opinion, MDGs as well as SDGs are attempts to create a better world and it's necessary to formulate these general goals, because they are the precondition for working out operational goals. (And you can controversially debate the consequences, if MDGs or SDGs wouldn't be formulated. - In my opinion, it's necessary to develop goals at this level.)

From this point of view, it's very interesting to analyse MDGs and SGDs in relation to the existence of goals, which combat poverty, inequality, discrimination or persecution. I think, there are more goals in the area "dignity, combating discrimination or combating persecution" to be found, if you have a look at SDGs.

Allport, one of the co-founders of prejudice research, emphasised, that it is important to support the reduction of prejudices with the support of legislation.(And SDGs could be a good precondition for national states to implement correspondente laws.) Furthermore it's important to build up positive emotional relations to members of ethnic minoriities in order to overcome stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination.

In my opinion, it's important to combat stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination, because there's the basic question "In which world (or in which society) do you want to live?" There's much to do and everybody should make his contribution to prevent or reduce stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination. (If you want to know more about prejudices research, send me a mail please.)

Kind regards, Detlef

Thanks Detlef, I'll take up your offer and in the meantime wish you a Happy New Year (despite the odds against us ).

I don't think that the MDGs were targeted to the issues that you raise.

If the SDGs that come to be agreed upon are targeted to the issues that you raise, then they are likely to be more effectively in addressing them.

The value of the MDGs was to create a political consensus on which issues to target, and the fact of creating quantitative targets which made it possible to ensure that all development activities were targeted to these politically agreed upon objectives.

I.e., I think there is a mismatch in your question. It's like asking "how will some new set of goals succeed at some things that were not targeted under the last set of objectives."

Of course, achieving the MDGs should benefit the issues that you specify, and this sort of complementarity between broader objectives is understood.

But the value of the MDGs is that they are quantitative and thus easy to monitor progress towards targets and how actual activities are matched to those objectives. The three issues that you address have far too obvious political dimensions, and should not be made the explicit objectives of the SDGs, in my opinion.

Moreover, neither the MDGs nor SDGs are intended to create consensus on development objectives in European cities, rather, they are intended to create consensus and measurability of development objectives in "poor countries", in particular those which receive funding from "rich countries".

More directly to your apparent motivation, however, I would think that expanded opportunity in host countries and improved education outcomes, etc., would improve the value of the networks of immigrants and this would reduce the effective marginalization that they experience. But I think it's really a stretch to address the issues you bring up within an MDG or SDG sort of framework, unless perhaps out of curiosity you could use MDGs measurement tools to compare progress of immigrant neigbourhoods compared to some number of more successful cases in reaching the MDGs. While the absolute situation is probably better, progress is probably slow or negative in many cases, compared to the general story of very real progress towards the MDGs in a great number of cases.

I beg to differ as the  primary focus of my research is from a human rights perspective,

Firstly, socioeconomic exclusion of vulnerable ethnIc and  religious groups as well as structural discrimination are realities faced by ummigrant communities in Europe and globally. This goes beyond being a political issue as you have stated, it is a hman rights issue.

Secondly,  the MDGs did go some way to address root causes of development issues which affect vulnerable groups, by aiming to improve living standards in developing countries. For developed countries to take the lead in sustainable development the causes of forced migration from developing states such as social injustice, conflict and inequality cannot be ignored; neither can poor living standards and other human rights violations within their own borders ,

Thirdly,  the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda asserts a fundamental transformative shift  which " leaves no one behind "; including diverse ethnicities, religious ,imorities, and other vulnerable groups. Furthermore SDG 10 aims to reduce inequality within and between countries; by  facilitating orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies (10.7).

See http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgsproposal

I therefore disagree that sutainable development goals cannot be analysed  qualitatively e.g. in humanistic research , as the very essence of sustainable developemrnt is that it is a rights based approach to develpment; both quantitative and qualitative methodologies may apply in their use..  

Dear Ade,

for your research interests in the topic "prejudice research" try the following articles / publications and links:

Aronson et al (2013): Social Psychology. Pearson (see chapter 13)

Social Psychology Network: see http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm.

Under "Prejudice, Discrimination, and Diversity" (see http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm#prejudice) you find menues about:

• Racism and Other Race-Related Issues
• Sexism, Gender Discrimination, and Feminism
• Antisemitism and Holocaust Information
• Heterosexism/Homophobia
• Antifat Prejudice
• Disability and Discrimination
• Diversity and Multiculturalism
• Prejudice Reduction
• Civil Rights
• Affirmative Action

Under "Prejudice Reduction" see ( http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm#prejreduction) you find menues about:

• Tolerance.org
• UnderstandingPrejudice.org
• Reducing Stereotype Threat
• Jigsaw Classroom: A Cooperative Learning Technique
• Prejudice and Conflict Reduction Reference Database
• Promising Practices: A Presidential Initiative on Race
• Partners Against Hate: Education and Counteraction Strategies
• A World of Difference: Anti-Bias Education and Diversity Training

I assume, you are interested in this topic especially.

Concluding, I add a few articles:

Elizabeth Levy Paluck and Donald P. Green (2009): Prejudice Reduction: What Works? A Review and Assessment of Research and Practice. In: Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 60: 339-367 (Volume publication date January 2009), see: http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163607

Greco T, Priest N, & Paradies Y (2010): Review of strategies and resources to address race-based discrimination and support diversity in schools. Victorian Heath Promotion Foundation (VicHealth), Carlton, Australia. 77 pages. Download under: http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/~/media/resourcecentre/publicationsandresources/discrimination/schools_discrim_review.ashx

Aboud et al (2012): Interventions to reduce prejudice and enhance inclusion and respect for ethnic differences in early childhood: A systematic review. In: Developmental Review, Volume 32, Issue 4, December 2012, Pages 307–336. see: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229712000214/pdfft?md5=3f31cc5c8de29b70a64df9b77abb2a2a&pid=1-s2.0-S0273229712000214-main.pdf

Pedersen et al (2003): Anti-Racism – What works? An evaluation of the effectiveness

of anti-racism strategies. Download under: http://www.omi.wa.gov.au/resources/clearinghouse/antiracism_what_works.pdf

Law (2007): The Racism Reduction Agenda: building the framework, signposting good practice and learning the lessons. Download under: http://cers.leeds.ac.uk/files/2013/05/racism-reduction-agenda.pdf

Good luck with your research project and kind regards, Detlef

http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm

http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm#prejudice

http://www.socialpsychology.org/social.htm#prejreduction

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163607

http://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/~/media/resourcecentre/publicationsandresources/discrimination/schools_discrim_review.ashx

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273229712000214/pdfft?md5=3f31cc5c8de29b70a64df9b77abb2a2a&pid=1-s2.0-S0273229712000214-main.pdf

http://www.omi.wa.gov.au/resources/clearinghouse/antiracism_what_works.pdf

http://cers.leeds.ac.uk/files/2013/05/racism-reduction-agenda.pdf

I think the distinction in word choice matters. I would say "the causes which drive migration" not the "causes of forced migration", unless you are referring to human trafficking.

In fact, I agree that qualitative objectives can be transformed into something which is amenable to forms of quantitative tracking/monitoring. But since the MDGs and SDGs are actually different goals, I don't think it's quite on the mark to say, for example that MDGs "failed" in something that was not an objective, whereas the SDGs can succeed in working towards something that was not previously an objective.

And yes, I think inequality is a perfect example of something where a qualitative issue is made quantitative. If you check pep-net.org you will find a quite a number of endeavours to do precisely this, and methods vary by ways of defining the issue and availability of existing data.

@ Nathan I have never disputed the value of quantitative research methods which I have used in past and presumably may again in future. Inequality is not a new phenomena and certainly continues post Vienna Conference when the right to development began to gain a higher profile in liberal western economies..

@ Detlef, Danke ... I will certainly have a look at one or two of your recommended sources for my research when the opportunity arises, particularly if any allude to people of African descent's experiences of racism and structural discrimination within Europe.

Dear Ade,

thank you for your positive feedback! I'd like to recommend the following articles / websites, relating to your topic "racism and structural discrimination against African descents":

See the Website of FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights): http://fra.europa.eu/en

FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2013): FRA brief: Crimes motivated by hatred and prejudice in the EU. see: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2013/fra-brief-crimes-motivated-hatred-and-prejudice-eu (see page 1)

FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2012): Making hate crime visible in the European Union: acknowledging victims’ rights. see: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/making-hate-crime-visible-european-union-acknowledging-victims-rights (see page 46f.)

FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2012): EU-MIDIS Data in focus report 6: Minorities as Victims of Crime. see: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/eu-midis-data-focus-report-6-minorities-victims-crime (see page 3, 4, 8 - 16)

FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2010): EU-MIDIS Data in Focus 4: Report - Police Stops and Minorities. see: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2010/eu-midis-data-focus-report-4-police-stops-and-minorities (see page 6 - 14)

FRA News (2014): FRA takes part in European Parliament hearing on Afrophobia. http://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2014/fra-takes-part-european-parliament-hearing-afrophobia

FRA Opinion (2013): FRA Opinion on the situation of equality in the European Union 10 years on from initial implementation of the equality directives. see: http://fra.europa.eu/en/opinion/2013/fra-opinion-situation-equality-european-union-10-years-initial-implementation-equality (see page 8, 12)

FRA (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) (2009): EU-MIDIS - Main Results Report. see: http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/eu-midis-main-results-report (see chapter 3.1, 3.3 und key findings)

See the Website of ENAR (European Network Against Racism): www.enar-eu.org/

There' a menue "Shadow Reports on racism in Europe": http://www.enar-eu.org/Shadow-Reports-on-racism-in-Europe-203

ENAR (European Network Against Racism) (2012): Racism in Europe - ENAR Shadow Report 2010-11. see: http://www.enar-eu.org/IMG/pdf/shadowreport_en_final_lr.pdf  (with special attention to the way in which racism and racial discrimination impact the lives of people of African descent)

Good luck and kind regards, Detlef

http://fra.europa.eu/en

http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2013/fra-brief-crimes-motivated-hatred-and-prejudice-eu

http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/eu-midis-data-focus-report-6-minorities-victims-crime

http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2010/eu-midis-data-focus-report-4-police-stops-and-minorities

http://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2014/fra-takes-part-european-parliament-hearing-afrophobia

http://fra.europa.eu/en/opinion/2013/fra-opinion-situation-equality-european-union-10-years-initial-implementation-equality

http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2012/eu-midis-main-results-report

www.enar-eu.org/

http://www.enar-eu.org/Shadow-Reports-on-racism-in-Europe-203

http://www.enar-eu.org/IMG/pdf/shadowreport_en_final_lr.pdf

Thanks Detlef, I am already aware of the work of ENAR and the FRA, and have in fact attended the General Assembly of ENAR in 2013.  Take care.

http://www.pbl.nl/sites/default/files/cms/publicaties/PBL_2016_Urban_inequality_and_injustice.pdf