The Millennium Development Goals: Chances and Risks

In September 2001, the MDGs were approved by the 56th UN General Assembly. The international community is thus in possession of a common goal system that has been agreed upon by all relevant actors and that is both measurable and set to be implemented by a fixed date. The intention is that both, the international community as a whole and each individual country, should achieve all of the MDGs.This paper pursues three aims: first, to discuss, in a historical context, the important role the Millennium Declaration and the MDGS have played in the ongoing international development debate; second, to explain what risks and chances are bound up with the MDGs; and third, to discuss what consequences may be derived from these international development goals for Germany and for German development cooperation.