Layers of Politics and Power Struggles in the SDG Indicators Process

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The process of designing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was intensely political, as it can be expected of United Nations negotiations of that magnitude. Inevitably, those politics have spilled over into the technical process of formulating global indicators to monitor the Sustainable Development Goals. This commentary explores some of the tensions between competing priorities and various constituencies that affect the design of the global SDG indicator framework.