the public officials of a technical level as being too conceptual with regard to the concrete applications they are in charge to in their day-to-day work. Within administrative structures of many SNGs, SDGs are still perceived as global interests very much linked to international cooperation, and resistance to change extant policy dynamics often arise from sectorial departments.
Policy formulation: which policies and instruments should be formulated to territorialize the selected SDG targets? The second stage of the policy cycle involves the policy-making process, leading to the selection of appropriate governance mechanisms and policy instruments for achieving the SDGs territorially. Starting from a critical revision of the already existing governance structures at the territorial level, governments and stakeholders are coresponsible for the design of the institutional setting (institutions and processes) that regulate the implementation of the targets. In some cases, institutional and organizational change can occur. Internal committees, task forces, working groups, or units alike can be created or adapted to coordinate and strengthen the policy-making process. Many national and subnational governments, for example, formally included the 2030 Agenda as part of their political and development strategies. Nevertheless, the process of alignment, adaptation and/or inclusion of the SDGs into territorial strategies and frameworks followed different modalities. In some cases, national and regional parliaments officially approved a longterm joint strategy, thus, enhancing the political nature of the agreement. In some other cases, instead, the strategy is mainly a programmatic document that lacks of legal obligation. When goals are integrative and affect multiple stakeholders, policy-making become more complex. Firstly, actors’ position regarding the selection of appropriate policy instruments might diverge and bring to unclear distribution of tasks and responsibilities that will negatively affect the implementation stage. Secondly, SNGs usually dispose of a limited set of policy instruments. Policy instruments —as tools used by governments to pursue a desired outcome— include economic tools (taxes, spending, incentives), legal norms (laws, decrees, regulations) and voluntary selfregulation. Normative instruments are usually very effective if they can be enforceable. SNGs with legislative powers can enact laws and legal acts, as well as binding documents providing instructions for actions in a specific policy area. Weaker SNGs, without legal powers, cannot.
Implementation: how can SDG targets be executed in the territory? 28