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Three ways of looking at the EU’s Development Policy

By Sarah Delputte and Simon Lightfoot | EADI/ISS Blog Series

A few weeks ago, the new European Commission was established without a Commissioner for Development. Instead, Jutta Urpilainen from Finland will take up the newly named portfolio of “International Partnerships”. In the past decade, the EU’s development policy has been confronted with many different changes and challenges to the extent that one might speak of ‘the end of EU development policy’.  Most often, critics in policy and scholarly circles thereby point to the far-reaching dismantling of the “traditional” development policy principles. This evolution is defined as a “change from normative exceptionalism to a more interest-driven approach to development cooperation”. Continue reading “Three ways of looking at the EU’s Development Policy”

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Limits to learning: when climate action contributes to social conflict.

By Dirk Jan Koch and Marloes Verholt | EADI/ISS Blog Series

REDD+, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, has been one of the holy grails of international efforts to combat climate change for the past 10 years: over 10 billion dollars have been pledged to this cause by donor countries. Although REDD+ aims to reduce deforestation rates while increasing the welfare of landowners, research has shown that it also negatively impacts indigenous communities and has contributed to conflict. While hard work has been done to improve REDD+ programs, there are serious unintended effects of this much needed climate change action program. We wondered if organizations will do something about these unintended effects and would like to stimulate debate on that. We found that there are limits to what they learn: some unintended effects are likely to persist. Continue reading “Limits to learning: when climate action contributes to social conflict.”

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Deal or No Deal? – ACP Countries and the Brexit

By Bernhard Tröster

Brexit is still in limbo ahead of the upcoming UK elections in December 2019. The answer to the ‘Deal or No Deal’ question has important implications not only for the UK and the EU, but also for the 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. Brexit creates much uncertainty and reduces opportunities for ACP countries. However, these risks come primarily from potential shifts in development cooperation and not so much from sudden changes in trade flows. Continue reading “Deal or No Deal? – ACP Countries and the Brexit”

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Solidarity for People Displaced by Large-Scale Investment Projects

By Kei Otsuki and Griet Steel | EADI/ISS Blog Series

“VIVER É DIFICIL (Living is difficult)” reads the slogan on a water tank set up next to a typical concrete resettlement house in Mozambique (Photo). A plastic water pipe connects the water tank to a gutter, placed under the corrugated zinc roof, designed to facilitate the harvest of rainwater. In this semi-arid part of Africa, however, rain is increasingly scarce. “God stopped the rain”, says the owner of this house, David, who also wrote the slogan on his water tank. Continue reading “Solidarity for People Displaced by Large-Scale Investment Projects”

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The Deadly Profits from EU Border Walls

By Mark Akkerman 

Over 1000 refugees have died this year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea. According to recent statements by the UNHCR probably twice as many migrants died crossing Africa, largely outside the view of European press and public. Others end up in dire circumstances, in refugee shelter or detention camps inside and outside Europe, or living in illegality. Continue reading “The Deadly Profits from EU Border Walls”