Zukunft der EZ - International Development Blog

Das Politikfeld Entwicklungszusammenarbeit befindet sich im Umbruch. In Deutschland wird im Vorfeld der Bundestagswahlen im Herbst 2017 die Rolle und Bedeutung der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit einen wichtigen Platz in der politischen Diskussion einnehmen. Fragen zu globalen Herausforderungen und politischen Entwicklungen wie der Agenda 2030 sollen auf unserer Blog-Plattform von unterschiedlichen Perspektiven unter dem Titel „Zukunft der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit“ öffentlich diskutiert werden. Bis zu den Bundestagswahlen werden dazu Stimmen von Vertreterinnen und Vertretern der Wissenschaft, der im Bundestag (derzeit und in der letzten Legislaturperiode) vertretenen Parteien, der Bundesregierung, des Europäischen Parlaments und der Europäischen Kommission, den entwicklungspolitischen Durchführungsorganisationen, der Zivilgesellschaft und der Privatwirtschaft beitragen.

Cooperation with Africa in the 21st Century: On Peer or Paternalistic?

By BlogAllgemein, Future of GlobalisationAndreas Freytag, Stefan Liebing

Modern development cooperation renounces paternalism. It relies on the market to negotiate projects and puts partner countries to compete with each other for favorable conditions for investments.

When talking about developing countries, we think primarily of miserable conditions. Too often the three „Cs“ characterize our view of Africa: crisis, corruption and conflict. Positive developments, such as the halving of the number of people living in poverty and the establishment of middle classes are rarely discussed. New, locally adapted technologies have emerged in developing countries. Unfortunately, we pay too little attention to these developments. Accordingly, German and European development cooperation is still far too often based on an outdated image of African countries. It rarely sees actors from African countries as peers.

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Political transition in the US – a tidal change for the Future of Globalisation? A collection of experts’ opinions

By BlogAllgemein, Future of GlobalisationChallenges, climate change, Donald Trump

Globalisation in the sense of increasing global connectedness has seen difficult times over the last years. The global financial crisis showed the vulnerability of our economic systems and middle classes. Multilateralism was challenged by “my country first” movements, not least so from the US, one of the godmother nations to the post-WWII world order. The other godmother, the UK, turned its back to the EU’s integration project. Furthermore, trade wars increased trade barriers and changed the setting for global production chains. And certainly in 2020, a global pandemic was (and is) most effectively curbed by the limitation of individual movements, often reducing cross-border linkages.

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Global middle class consumers, global responsibility

By BlogAllgemein, Future of GlobalisationBabette Never, carbon, climate change, Consumer Behaviour, Middle Class

As households move out of poverty, their spending patterns change. From a human development perspective, this is good and important, but changing consumer behaviour may result in significantly more CO2 emissions. The lifestyles of growing global middle classes decide whether this happens.

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Recalibrating The G20 in the Aftermath of Saudi Arabia’s Summit: Testing a Secretariat!

By BlogAllgemein, Future of GlobalisationAndrew Cooper, Focal Point, G20 summit

In the Special Issue, After one decade of G20 summitry, edited by Axel Berger, Sven Grimm at the DIE and myself, I argued that the G20 had morphed from a crisis committee or steering group to being a hybrid focal point. In other words, the G20 could no longer be judged simply by its instrumental delivery. As a crisis committee, the G20 concentred its collective efforts on managing the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC), but gradually ran out of momentum. Alternatively, as a possible steering group, the G20 has not been able to embrace the mandate of working together beyond the core financial agenda whether on climate change, migration, or other compelling issue areas.

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The T20 has come a long way – now it needs to take the next step

By BlogAllgemein, Future of GlobalisationAxel Berger, G20, Sven Grimm, T20, Think tanks

Think tanks have become a noticeable actor in the G20 process. This is a result of the changing nature of the G20 itself, which evolved from a crisis committee into a network focal point. In this process, it has become more inclusive vis-à-vis transnational networks of societal actors such as business, civil-society, women’s organisations, and labour unions. Complex realities need different perspectives – and they also need analysis and research-based recommendations, which is the task of think tanks.

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