The first activity involved forming groups, allocating countries and examining the colonial histories of each. This activity was particularly useful for moving beyond abstract theories and gaining a concrete understanding of how colonial legacies continue to shape development outcomes today. Investigating Albania’s history deepened my awareness of how colonialism isn’t always about direct occupation. A point of discussion I enjoyed was the need to recognise this history, as without doing so, development risks repeating past mistakes or reinforcing existing inequalities. How can we ensure that development today actively disrupts rather than perpetuates these patterns?

As theory is always embedded in social reality, in our groups, we discussed and applied an allocated theory to our countries. I explored modernisation theory in the context of Albania, which helped me understand how the theory assumes a linear path to development based on Western models. This activity was useful not only for grounding theory in real-world context, but also for sharpening my critical thinking skills. It required evaluating how well the theory fits Albania’s unique socio-political history, which challenged me to question the theory’s universal assumptions. It made me curious to how theories like dependency or post-development would interpret Albania’s development path differently.

When researching the effects of globalisation on Albania, the positive effects became clear after the shift from communism to democracy. The rising KOF index and dramatic GDP growth evidenced positive effects of globalisation. Overall, this concept made me question the what extent it shapes a country’s development path, and how much control does smaller or less powerful nations really have in that process?

A point of discussion I would have liked to elaborate on was how international aid reflects not only humanitarian goals, but geopolitical interests.

The notion of the "right to veto" came up during a tutorial discussion and piqued my interest due to the devastating impacts it appeared to have on nations stricken by conflict.

Five permanent members of the UN hold a special power known as the “right to veto”. This means that if any one of them votes against a resolution in the 15-member Security Council, the proposal is automatically blocked. To me, this seems to directly undermine democracy and have a direct impact on development, as conflict and insecurity are widely considered one of its biggest barriers.

When the UN Security Council is paralysed by vetoes, it delays or prevents crucial interventions such as ceasefires, humanitarian aid, or peace negotiations. For example, the United States vetoed multiple ceasefire resolutions in Gaza in 2023, and Russia vetoed a resolution condemning its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These actions directly expose how the veto system can protect powerful nations at the expense of human lives.

My belief echoes that of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s, that the power of veto undermines the UN’s ability to maintain international peace and security, and as such, should be reformed. As long as “the right to veto” exists, global responses to conflict remain constrained by political interests rather than human need. A more democratic, accountable Security Council could better uphold peace, justice, and sustainable development.

2018

Akinlolu G. Omisore’s article, “Attaining Sustainable Development Goals in Sub-Saharan Africa: The need to address environmental challenges”, explores the fundamental but often overlooked role of environmental sustainability in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across sub-Saharan Africa. She highlights environmental issues such deforestation, poor waste management, and the growing impacts of climate change. She argues these challenges are linked to unsustainable development practices, perpetuating cycles of poverty.

Omisore calls for a shift in how environmental considerations treated, urging that they be integrated into national policy frameworks and development planning, rather than considered peripheral concerns. Drawing on secondary data and existing literature, she suggests that prioritising the environment can be a “catalyst in attaining [the] SDG’s”.

The article’s central theme is clear and consistent: sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa depends on confronting environmental challenges directly and embedding ecological sustainability at the core of development strategies.

The Underprioritized and Undermined Environmental Dimension of the SDGs

Omisore contends that environmental sustainability is frequently overlooked in sub-Saharan Africa’s development agenda, even though it is a foundational component in over half of the SDGs. She argues that without addressing environmental degradation, other development goals such as poverty reduction, health, and access to clean water, will continue to be compromised.

This is a well-grounded and important critique. Omisore highlights how neglecting environmental issues undermines progress on multiple SDGs, such as Goal 11, referring to sustainable cities and communities, and Goal 13, which refers to climate change. Her emphasis on environmental degradation as both a symptom and a driver of underdevelopment reflects a systems-thinking approach – focusing on understanding how connected aspects of a system influence each other – that aligns with recent literature in development studies.

However, while Omisore identifies this neglect for the environment, she could have gone further in exploring why this neglect persists. Is it due to financial capacity, political short-termism, or poor environmental governance? For example, identifying that researchers have identified environmental issues taking a backseat due to developmentalist bias could have enriched Omisore’s critique.

The Vision for an Integrated Environmental Policy

Omisore advocates for a comprehensive and integrated approach to environmental sustainability in sub-Saharan Africa through the lens of the SDGs. Her recommendations span from policy mainstreaming and legal reform to capacity building, partnerships, eco-friendly infrastructure, agriculture and public education. She positions environmental protection as inseparable from development and national transformation.

Omisore’s proposals reflect an ambitious yet necessary vision for environmental development. The integration of SDGs into national policies (Section 4.1) is particularly convincing, as it underscores the importance of aligning global goals with local priorities. The alignment between the UN SDGs and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 adds credibility to the idea that Africa can chart its own sustainable development pathway rather than follow externally imposed models.

The call for legal enforcement and accountability (Section 4.2) addresses a longstanding weakness in environmental governance. Institutionalising principles like “polluter pays” and mandating budget allocations to environmental issues reflects a serious attempt to correct past failures. Similarly, her emphasis on institutional capacity building (Section 4.3) and monitoring and evaluation (Section 4.5) is both realistic and vital, given that weak institutions and poor data systems have historically undermined policy execution across the region.

While the policy recommendations are comprehensive and conceptually strong, their implementation feasibility remains underdeveloped. For example, Omisore suggests widespread legal reforms, institutional investment, and data infrastructure upgrades — but offers little insight into how governments with limited budgets and governance challenges can realistically prioritise or sequence these actions. Section 4.9 on financing the SDGs rightly calls for increased domestic commitment, but it could have explored more innovative or practical financing strategies, such as environmental taxes or public-private green bonds.

Moreover, the assumption that states can be effectively “put on their toes” by organisations like the UN or AU (as noted in Section 4.1) may underestimate the political and economic constraints that undermine compliance. Without mechanisms of enforcement, transparency, or accountability, regional agendas risk being more aspirational than operational.

Something missing for me in this course was hearing the lived experiences of people affected by underdevelopment. It could have added a valuable human dimension to the academic content, whether through a documentary or primary narrative. However, I am satisfied with the structure of our learning in the tutorials. Following a program of discussing the content with the class, before breaking into our groups and relating the theory to our allocated country, consolidated the theory through application.

I appreciated the Padlet Portfolio in its role of consolidating the course content, especially as we do not have an exam in this course. However, in comparison to the Research Essay, I did not derive as much gratification. I enjoy applying the course content to a task, and doing further research, which is not possible in a big reflective task such as this.

Omisore’s article provided a compelling contribution to understanding the often-overlooked environmental dimension of sustainable development in a sub-Saharan Africa context. In framing environmental degradation as both a cause and consequence of underdevelopment, the article advances a perspective that enriches a broader discourse on the SDGs. Her emphasis on aligning the SDGs with Africa’s Agenda 2063 challenges the dominance of externally driven models and supports an internally driven approach to development.

Although sometimes the exploration of the structural reasons behind environmental neglect was shallow, it nonetheless fills an important gap in the literature. This is particularly clear when compared to development analyses that continue to treat the environment as secondary to economic or social goals. Omisore’s work enhanced my understanding of how environmental sustainability is not a discrete goal, but a foundational element necessary for progress across the entire SDG agenda. In this sense, the article makes a valuable contribution to the field of international development by highlighting that environmental justice is central to achieving sustainable growth.