Achieving the SDGs in Times of Fiscal Constraints and Increasing Nationalism
Roundtable participant at the United Nations–ETH Forum 'Science and Policy in Turbulent Times'. The session examined how rising nationalism and fiscal austerity threaten progress on the Sustainable Development Goals.
I participated as a roundtable speaker at the United Nations–ETH Forum "Science and Policy in Turbulent Times," held at ETH Zurich on 20–21 October 2025. The two-day forum brought together ETH scientists, UN practitioners, government officials, and civil society representatives to examine how research can inform policy under conditions of geopolitical fragmentation and institutional stress. In the roundtable on SDGs, fiscal constraints, and nationalism, I drew on my research into majority nationalism and minority exclusion to explain how the rise of nationalist governments, which systematically exclude minorities from political and economic participation, actively undermines the international cooperation and shared-governance frameworks that the 2030 Agenda depends on.