Global Governance – Debating Development Research

26/06/2026

Beyond Aid: The Political Economy of International Solidarity

Who Counts When Vulnerability Has No Strategic Value?

By Nadia Molenaers

The debate about the future of development cooperation has accelerated sharply. Aid budgets are shrinking in several donor countries. Geopolitical rivalry is reshaping international partnerships. New actors and new financing mechanisms are challenging long-standing assumptions about how international cooperation should be organised. For many observers, the central question is what comes after aid.

23/06/202626/06/2026

Towards a New Governance Architecture for Development Cooperation

By José Antonio Alonso

At the beginning of the 1960s, OECD donors decided to establish a specialized body—the Development Assistance Committee (DAC)—to govern the aid system. Since then, the DAC has proven effective in defining standards, harmonizing reporting, disseminating good practices, and promoting learning and accountability among donors. These achievements, however, go along with a fundamental limitation: the exclusive nature of the institution. Although development cooperation formally embraces the principle of country ownership, the governance of the system excludes the representation and voice of those who are expected to exercise that ownership.

21/10/202526/06/2026

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.

12/08/202526/06/2026

US Abdication of Leadership and the “Rise of the Rest”: What does this Mean for International Cooperation?

By Brendan M. Howe / Development and Development Policy in the Trump Era Series

US Abdication of Leadership and Geopolitical Challenges

The demise of the liberal international order (LIO) is a prominent topic of conversation among contemporary academics and practitioners. The first administration of Donald Trump disdained multilateralism in all forms and dealt global governance a serious blow. Joe Biden’s single-term administration, despite recommitting to some of the inter-national accords from which Trump had signalled an intention to withdraw, exacerbated rather than alleviated international concerns about US leadership (or a lack thereof).