Photo: Future of Globalisation

The section Future of Globalisation in this blog provides a platform for debates on current world economic issues, global power shifts and views on the roles of formal and informal global governance institutions. It is an initiative of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS). The blog posts, appearing on every first and third Wednesday each month, are written by researchers from IDOS and our international partners, amongst them numerous prestigious think tanks from rising powers. In this blog, the authors of the contributions represent only their personal opinion. While aiming at cutting-edge research content, the blog intends to reach a broader audience of researchers, government officials and journalists. With this blog we carry on discussions that had initially been launched in 2016 as part of the Think20 process during the German G20 presidency. In 2018, we aim at continuing the debate about the role of the G20 broadening the focus of discussion to institutional and thematic matters of global economic governance.

If you are interested to contribute, get in touch with Axel Berger and Sven Grimm of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) via futureofglobalisation@idos-research.de.

Photo of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore with dark clouds in heaven.

Science as early casualty in the authoritarian turn

At flabbergasting speed, we currently see a very unappetising authoritarian turn in the United States under President Donald Trump. Numerous executive orders, often on questionable legal basis, target international cooperation and funding for academia, which, in the mind of “strongmen”, merit little attention, anyways. Most importantly, though, these decrees target the state’s capabilities to operate…

The former Federal Chancellery in Bonn's government district, today the headquarters of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Umbau statt Zerfall: Entwicklungspolitik jetzt anders aufstellen

Bonn, den 20. März 2025. Die USA erschüttern in diesen Wochen die Strukturen internationaler Sicherheits- und Kooperationspolitik. Sie stellen die Beistandsverpflichtung der NATO und das Zusammenwirken mit Europa in den Vereinten Nationen in Frage. Sie überziehen ihre Partner mit Zöllen. Sie verabschieden sich aus Vereinbarungen wie dem Pariser Klimaabkommen und der 2030 Agenda für nachhaltige…

Image of the Square in Seville, “4th International Conference on Financing for Development 30 June–3 July 2025 Seville, Spain”

Frozen in time: How to rethink the role of foreign aid in FFD4

Whether time moves linearly or circularly, is subject to debate in the natural and social sciences. Meanwhile, the FFD4 process suggests the primacy of circularity, at least when reading the draft outcome document’s references to “Official Development Assistance” (ODA). In brief, the document calls for scaling up the volume of ODA (colloquially foreign aid) along…

The Group of 77 in the FfD negotiations

Image of the Square in Seville, “4th International Conference on Financing for Development 30 June–3 July 2025 Seville, Spain”

Image by Gerhard Bögner on Pixabay

The upcoming Financing for Development (FfD) conference will address major challenges hindering the efforts of developing countries towards sustainable development. The Group of 77 (G77) – a key platform for the Global South in the UN – will play an important role in bringing the interests and demands of the Global South forward. …

Baugerüst vor Gebäude

Eine reformierte Entwicklungspolitik als Baustein für Europas und Deutschlands neue Rolle in der Welt

Globalisierung der Probleme und Nationalisierung der Politik Krisen häufen sich. Sie werden gleichzeitig globaler und existentieller: Klimawandel, Kriege, Pandemien etc.; diese Krisen können nur durch internationale Kooperation gelöst werden. Aber die Strukturen hierfür sind schwach. Während sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten die Wirtschaft, Finanzen und Kommunikation schnell globalisierten, ist es nicht gelungen, regionale und multilaterale…