A dissertation submitted to the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University in part fulfillment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Regional Civil Society Engagement and Governance in Agenda 2030: Liberation at last? Simon HØIBERG OLSEN February 2020 Budapest CEU eTD Collection Notes on copyright and the ownership of intellectual property rights: (1) Copyright in text of this dissertation rests with the Author. Copies (by any process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the Author and lodged in the Central European University Library. Details may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the Author. (2) The ownership of any intellectual property rights which may be described in this dissertation is vested in the Central European University, subject to any prior agreement to the contrary, and may not be made available for use by third parties without the written permission of the University, which will prescribe the terms and conditions of any such agreement. (3) The photos used on the cover page of the dissertation are past group photos from AP-RCEM’s annual People’s Forum. They are openly available online. Author does not claim sole copyright to this material. (4) For bibliographic and reference purposes this dissertation should be referred to as: Olsen, Simon Høiberg 2020. Regional Civil Society Engagement and Governance in Agenda 2030: Liberation at last? Doctoral thesis, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University, Budapest. Further information on the conditions under which disclosures and exploitation may take place is available from the Head of Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy. CEU eTD Collection i Author’s declaration No portion of the work referred to in this dissertation has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. Furthermore, this dissertation contains no materials previously written and/or published by another person, except where appropriate acknowledgment is made in the form of bibliographical reference, etc. Simon Høiberg OLSEN CEU eTD Collection ii Abstract of Dissertation Submitted by: Simon Høiberg OLSEN for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and entitled: Regional Civil Society Engagement and Governance in Agenda 2030: Liberation at last? February 2020. This dissertation examines regional civil society engagement with the SDGs to identify current trends in the sustainable development discourse. It uses Foucauldian governmentality as an analytical lens to trace the discourses and narratives that compete, contest and combine in regional SDGs processes in Asia and the Pacific. Based on text analysis, participant observation and interviews, the dissertation compares rationalities and techniques of governing in official global and regional SDG tracks with a regional grassroots civil society engagement platform’s engagement with the process in the period 2014-2018. The dissertation finds that the SDGs continue the sustainable development discourse’s compromise between economic growth and environmental conservation; structural impediments to sustainability largely go unmentioned in favor of promoting advanced liberal and neoliberal approaches to governing for sustainability. But the advanced liberal governmentalities that lay the base for the SDGs’ voluntary ‘governing by goals’ also open the playing field allowing grassroots voices to enter and engage with official SDG processes in the region. Their engagement and resistance to the full SDG narrative legitimize regional SDGs process and the intergovernmental system. The ‘mainstreaming’ of marginalised actors and voices into the SDGs processes compromises their resistance but also contributes important language to the evolving discourse. The dissertation contributes to the field of governmentality studies of international processes and casts light on the power dynamics of multistakeholder engagement in Agenda 2030. CEU eTD Collection Keywords: Governmentality; sustainable development goals; civil society engagement; Asia-Pacific iii Acknowledgements This thesis has evolved considerably since I first started the research project. It has benefited enormously from a number of conversations, discussions and conferences and feedback from reviewers, friends, colleagues and comrades. It is impossible to list them all here, and of course none of them bear any responsibility for any errors of mine. Thank you very much for taking time from your busy schedules to participate in, discuss, and challenge this research. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors – professors Laszlo Pinter, Tamara Steger, and Steven Bernstein for their invaluable guidance and feedback during this research project. I also would like to thank my family – especially Sonomi and Aiya for their enduring love and support throughout my PhD studies. Last but not least I would like to thank Aki and Robert for providing critique, feedback, and suggestions throughout this process. CEU eTD Collection iv Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables ...................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1: Governing the SDGs .................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Context and Rationale of the Research .................................................................... 4 1.3. Research Questions, Aims and Contributions .................................................... 17 1.4. Thesis Structure and Organization......................................................................... 21 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................................... 23 2.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 23 2.2. SD as a Reflexive Boundary Object ......................................................................... 23 2.3. Liberalism and SD ......................................................................................................... 26 2.4. Neoliberalism and SD................................................................................................... 30 2.5. A Historical Perspective of Development and SD ............................................. 34 2.6. SD and the SDGs ............................................................................................................. 37 2.7. Analytical Framework ................................................................................................. 40 2.8. The AP-RCEM .................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 3: Research Methodology and Methods ............................................................... 60 3.1. Introduction and Research Design ......................................................................... 60 3.2. Research Methodology ................................................................................................ 62 3.3. Discourses and Governmentality ............................................................................ 65 3.4. Research Approach and Methods ........................................................................... 67 3.5. Fieldwork .......................................................................................................................... 72 3.6. Limitations and Ethical Issues ................................................................................. 77 Chapter 4: Results of Data Collection ..................................................................................... 79 4.1. Analytical Context ......................................................................................................... 79 4.2. The Global SD Process around Rio+20 ................................................................. 79 4.3.1. The Global SDGs Process........................................................................................ 84 4.3.2. Document Analysis: The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs ................................ 86 4.4. The Regional Responses ............................................................................................. 90 4.4.1. The APFSD and ESCAP’s Regional Roadmap ................................................. 90 4.4.2. Document Analysis: AP-RCEM 2014-2018 ..................................................... 96 4.4.3. AP-RCEM’s key messages ................................................................................... 108 Chapter 5: Analysis and Discussion ..................................................................................... 120 5.1. Main Discourses Contesting Within the SDGs................................................. 120 5.1.1. Reaffirming the Importance of Sovereign Power for SDGs................... 120 5.1.2. Neoliberal Elements in