How Can a Post-2015 Agreement Drive Real Change? Revised Edition: The political economy of global commitments

What are the lessons of the Millennium Development Goals process to date? What has been their impact on aid and national government decision making? This paper seeks to inform the post-2015 debate by examining these questions. It argues that leverage over national governments and civil society involvement will increasingly eclipse leverage on aid as the determining factor of post-2015 success and discusses how alternative international instruments can achieve such traction. The paper has been revised after online discussion of a draft version. This is a discussion paper, intended to provoke reflection and debate, and does not represent Oxfam policy positions. The authors welcome further comments - email research@oxfam.org.uk