This open access book conceptualises the Sustainable Development Goals as epistemic infrastructures that connect numbers, networks and governing paradigms.The book approaches quantification not merely as a tool for governing, but rather as a broader epistemic system through which global public policy is produced.

The Sustainable Development Goals as Epistemic Infrastructures.- Knowledge Production for the SDGs: developing the global indicators.- Harmonising Global Public Policy: producing global standards, local data and statistical capacity development.- Scripting the SDGs: the role of narratives in governing by goals.- SDGs and the politics of reconciling the dual logic of democracy and technocracy.- SDGs and the rise of an epistemic infrastructure: actors’ networks, partnerships and conflicts in the education SDG.- Expert brokers – SDGs and the emergence of new forms of expertise.- Epistemic infrastructures: SDGs and the making of global public policy.

This open access book conceptualises the Sustainable Development Goals as epistemic infrastructures that connect numbers, networks and governing paradigms.The book approaches quantification not merely as a tool for governing, but rather as a broader epistemic system through which global public policy is produced. This book focuses on the role of international organisations in shaping and implementing the 2030 Agenda and demonstrates how the SDGs have transformed and accelerated trends in quantification.

Justyna Bandola-Gill is a Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh and Associate Director of the Centre for Science, Knowledge and Policy (SKAPE). 

Sotiria Grek is Professor of European and Global Education Governance at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. .

Marlee Tichenor is a medical anthropologist and a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Durham University. 

“This fascinating book addresses how the fundamental logic of quantification drives global public policy.  No longer merely a tool of governance, quantification is now deeply embedded as the epistemology of infrastructure. This book is essential reading for those who want to think deeply about how development goals are created and enacted on a global scale.” (Wendy Espeland, Professor of Sociology, Northwestern University, USA)

“In this well researched investigation of the SDGs, Justyna Bandola, Sotiria Grek and Marlee Tichenor unpack the complex interplay of actors, measurements, inter-relationships and policy making through indicators.  This is an important contribution that advances the study of indicators as they increasingly shape global governance institutions.” (Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs, The New School, USA)

This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access Focuses on the role of International Organisations in shaping and implementing the 2030 Agenda Demonstrates how the SDGs have transformed and accelerated trends in quantification Conceptualises the Sustainable Development Goals as epistemic infrastructures

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