The rationale behind state support for, and obedience to, normative rules and obligations has long been a topic of international law scholarship discourse. What has yet to be fully established, however, is why virtually all states have agreed to adhere to a seemingly novel global paradigm with ambitious yet non-binding objectives – the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article identifies six factors as contributing to the influencing power of the SDGs – namely, the role of law, particularly inter- and transnational law, the legitimacy of the framework, the notion of reciprocity, reputational concerns, national self-interest, and the moral duty to address the shared global challenges of sustainable development.By exploring their strengths and limitations through several theoretical frameworks (including Harold Koh's theory of transnational legal processes, Thomas Franck's theory of legitimacy, and Ryan Goodman and Derek Jinks’ three mechanisms of social influence), this article argues that the combination of these factors motivates voluntary state commitment, reporting, and cooperation under the SDG framework and that, overall, the SDGs offer a versatile lens to explore the different motives for state adherence to a soft law framework in the inter- and transnational legal spheres.

中文翻译：

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为什么各国坚持可持续发展目标？


国家支持和遵守规范规则和义务背后的理由长期以来一直是国际法学术讨论的话题。然而，尚未完全确定的是为什么几乎所有国家都同意遵守看似新颖的全球范式，其目标雄心勃勃但不具约束力，即联合国 2030 年可持续发展目标 (SDG)。本文确定了影响可持续发展目标的六个因素，即法律的作用，特别是国际法和跨国法的作用、框架的合法性、互惠概念、声誉问题、国家自身利益以及通过几个理论框架（包括 Harold Koh 的跨国法律程序理论、Thomas Franck 的合法性理论以及 Ryan Goodman 和 Derek Jinks 的三种社会影响机制）探索其优势和局限性），本文认为，这些因素的结合激发了国家在可持续发展目标框架下的自愿承诺、报告和合作，总体而言，可持续发展目标提供了一个通用的视角来探索国家遵守软法律框架的不同动机国际和跨国法律领域。