Introduction

This introductory chapter presents the aims, research design, and contributions of the book. It situates our study in relation to prior research on the 2030 Agenda and to contemporary literature on legitimacy, responsibility, and accountability in governance settings at national and global levels. The latter underpins the conceptual framework that structures our empirical study of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) politics in Ghana, Tanzania, and Sweden in ensuing chapters. We introduce the 2030 Agenda and the consultations and negotiations preceding its adoption in 2015. Moreover, the chapter justifies the selection of countries on which we make empirical observations and it presents our empirical material. The chapter ends with an outline of the book, summarising key arguments of each chapter.