A way forward to achieve the SDGs in Korea: Reformulating an enabling environment for sustainable development

Governance and partnership are key principles that crosscut the entire agenda of sustainable development. National implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is still regarded as challenging for both the Global North and South, since the process is by and large a matter of state autonomy depending on their respective governance capacity. At times, implementation itself can become stalled when confronted with resistance. Hence, prior thought must be given to finding a middle ground between hierarchical governance and a bottom-up network approach with third sector participation. The importance of a bottom-up model of policy change goes hand in hand with the inclusive features of the SDGs that actively invite actors of the third sector into the development field. In this regard, comprehensive implementation of the SDGs requires new enabling environments that allow transformation in governance mechanisms for social integration. Thus, this chapter examines approaches to governance and modes of partnership by examining the case of South Korea, where government policies on nationalizing the SDGs have evolved with the growth of the third sector toward orchestrating a whole-of-society approach. It concludes by suggesting comprehensive agendas on how to reinforce the existing institutional platforms and ways forward to seek national implementation of the SDGs with core principles of development cooperation.