November 2024 – Debating Development Research

26/11/2024

Beyond Mergers: Charting Germany’s Development Policy in a Changing World

By Stephan Klingebiel / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

Germany’s political landscape is in a state of flux. Following the coalition’s collapse, key policy decisions will play an important role—not only in the upcoming campaign phase but also in shaping the groundwork for a future coalition agreement that will guide the next federal government. While development policy may not be a top priority, it is under considerable pressure.

22/11/2024

Beyond COP29: Toward Reparative Justice, Not Corporate Climate Deals

By Gert Van Hecken, Vijay Kolinjivadi, Marcela Vecchione Gonçalves, Richard Toppo and Anwesha Dutta

As delegates gather in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the 29th Conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), we are once again reminded of how compromised these summits have become. Baku, a capital built on oil wealth, is yet another highly securitized backdrop for a conference hijacked by fossil fuel interests. From the UAE’s Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company, presiding over COP28 in 2023 to Azerbaijan’s fossil-fuel-driven regime hosting this year, the COPs have become increasingly directed by the very industries they claim to hold accountable. In a glaring example of this contradiction, COP29’s chief executive Elnur Soltanov – Azerbaijan’s deputy energy minister and a board member of the state oil company Socar – was filmed discussing oil and gas investment opportunities with a fictitious energy investor. This stunt, orchestrated by Global Witness, underscores how blatantly these summits serve fossil fuel agendas, even as a new report reveals that there are no signs of promised fossil fuel transitions and emissions are set to reach a record high in 2024.

21/11/202421/11/2024

The Journey towards an Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive System Evaluation

By Yulye Jessica Romo Ramos / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project

Over the last couple of years, the evaluation sector has come under pressure to acknowledge the Euro-Western hegemony over knowledge, evaluation and learning practice[i]. Current structures, behaviours, mindsets and mental models have led to institutional and systemic racism and discrimination of non-white people and other minoritised groups[ii]. This perpetuates a system that places weak or no value in non-Euro-Western knowledge, values and voices and results in non-representative practitioners and evidence, which threatens the legitimacy of evaluation as such.

19/11/2024

The EU’s Engagement in the G20 – One Way to Deal with Global Power Shifts

By Vy Dang, Sven Grimm and Wulf Reiners / Part of the European Development Policy Outlook Series

The EU has been a permanent member of the G20 since the group was founded in 1999, alongside three member states: France, Germany, and Italy (EU3). Additionally, Spain and the Netherlands are regularly invited as guests to the G20 meetings. Strengthening engagement within the G20 has been one of the key priorities in the EU’s multilateral engagement over the past years, as highlighted in the 2024 Joint Communication by the Commission and High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

07/11/202407/11/2024

Trump’s Second Term and the Global South: Prospects and Perils

By Stephan Klingebiel, Max-Otto Baumann and Andy Sumner

Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January will have far-reaching implications, not only for the democratic system in the United States but also for global cooperation, particularly impacting the Global South. Here, we offer three reflections on what a Trump second term might mean for these countries.