Debating Development Research

18/11/202502/12/2025

The G7 and Global Development Architecture: Gradual Shift or Pivotal Moment?

By Andy Sumner and Stephan Klingebiel

In late 2025 the development cooperation architecture or system is being openly renegotiated rather than quietly adjusted. Will it be a gradual shift or will 2025 be seen in the future as a pivot moment or a tipping point?

The global development architecture is under the spotlight. This refers to the broad architecture of actors, norms, instruments and institutions that mobilise and coordinate resources, knowledge and political support for development goals. Within this system, Official Development Assistance (ODA) is a core financial instrument, primarily provided by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) DAC (Development Assistance Committee) members. It functions alongside other modalities such as South–South cooperation, climate finance, philanthropic aid and private-sector engagement.

11/11/202502/12/2025

Finding Hope amidst the Ruins – Building a new Narrative for Development Cooperation

By Peter Taylor

The re-election of President Trump in January 2025 led to an immediate freeze on all international development funding from USAID, the largest international aid donor. As highlighted in this recent publication, this freeze caused rapid and devastating effects on humanitarian and development programs worldwide, including halted efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and Mpox, shutdowns of women’s health providers, and suspension of water and sanitation projects. The sudden withdrawal undermined trust and severed long-standing partnerships critical for equitable global development research and cooperation.

28/10/202502/12/2025

How Social Science Fiction Could Transform Development Research: Extending our Methodological Horizons

By Laura Camfield

In an era of increasing complexity and uncertainty, conventional methodological approaches to pressing development concerns such as extreme income inequality often fall short. In a new reflection paper, Andy Sumner and I propose a new approach, social science fiction (SSF), not merely as an opportunity to cultivate empathy, but also as a robust methodological tool for development research.

21/10/202502/12/2025

The Gradual Change of Multilateralism and Development Cooperation

By Lars Engberg-Pedersen

In a recent piece on this blog, Stephan Klingebiel and Andy Sumner take up the important question of how the present situation of international cooperation and global development should be described. Clearly, they should be thanked for addressing the question, which has become increasingly urgent the last year. In this piece, I will discuss some of their arguments as an input into the discussion of contemporary changes.

14/10/202516/12/2025

Transforming the International Development Cooperation System – Mission Impossible?

Interview with Aram Ziai, Chair of Development and Postcolonial Studies, University of Kassel, Germany / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project

Professor Aram Ziai is an academic who has been writing on Post-Development for over 20 years. His work is all centred around decolonising the sector – and on how colonial injustices are still effective in our day-to-day life. He is also Executive Director of the Global Partnersh i p Network, which has been explicitly set up to try to decolonise international cooperation and knowledge production as far as the structures of the ‘development industry’ will allow.