The Impact of the MDG Paradigm on Poverty Reduction The MDGs as a “Faustian Bargain” The Millennium Declaration adopted by the General Assembly of the United

Nations in September 2000 states that “in addition to our separate responsibilities to our individual societies, we have a collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and equity at the global level ” (United Nations 2000: para 2). This commitment has been translated into practice through the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of 8 goals, 18 quantitative targets and 48 specific indicators, as a focus for international and national development policy. The first seven of these Goals are concerned with outcomes, identifying the progress towards certain standards of human well-being and decent living which should be achieved globally and nationally by 2015. The eighth Goal is concerned with relationships, identifying various aspects of a “global partnership for development ” which must be forged to support the realization of these poverty reduction, human development and environmental sustainability standards. The MDGs are immensely significant. At the simplest level, they are part of the emergence of a global consciousness in which persons all over the world are seen as living in a single social space and the nature of their well-being is compared. But beyon