This article examines the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework as a political project in tension with its universal and multilateral aspirations to serve as a counterbalance to narrow populist visions increasingly dominating global politics. Building upon Laclau and Mouffe’s theory of populism and their notion of ‘radical democracy’, we conceptualise the SDGs as a struggle for hegemony and in competition with other styles of politics, over what counts as ‘development’. This hegemonial struggle plays out in the attempts to form political constituencies behind developmental slogans, and it is here that religious actors come to the fore, given their already established role in organising communities, expressing values and aspirations, and articulating visions of the future. Examining how the SDG process has engaged with faith actors in India and Ethiopia, as well as how the Indian and Ethiopian states have engaged with religion in defining development, we argue that a ‘radical democracy’ of sustainable development requires a more intentional effort at integrating religious actors in the implementation of the SDGs.

中文翻译：

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宗教、民粹主义和可持续发展目标的政治

本文将可持续发展目标 (SDG) 框架视为一个政治项目，与其普遍和多边愿望相冲突，以平衡日益主导全球政治的狭隘民粹主义愿景。基于拉克劳和墨菲的民粹主义理论和他们的“激进民主”概念，我们将可持续发展目标概念化为争夺霸权和与其他政治风格的竞争，即所谓的“发展”。这种霸权斗争在试图在发展口号背后形成政治支持者时发挥作用，而正是在这里，宗教行为者脱颖而出，因为他们在组织社区、表达价值观和愿望以及阐明未来愿景方面已经确立了作用。