Podcast - La coopération au développement, tour d’horizon

Multipolar Africa: As the U.S. Steps Back, a New World Arrives

A New Scramble, A New Sovereignty - A quiet yet profound transformation is underway in Africa. While U.S. headlines remain preoccupied with Ukraine, Taiwan, and election cycles, a geopolitical reordering is playing out on a continent long viewed by Washington as peripheral — if it was seen at (…)

• Ramesh Jaura

The Better Way to Fix Foreign Aid

“Time for it to die.” That verdict on USAID, by Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, set off shockwaves in the aid industry and beyond.”Time for it to die.” That verdict on USAID, by Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk, set off shockwaves in the aid industry and (…)

• David Sogge

Myanmar Earthquake : A Call for “Do No Harm” Aid and Action in a Nation Under Siege

As the devastating earthquake on 28 March exposed, disaster is following disaster for the peoples of Myanmar. In this commentary, Lahkyen Roi describes how people face multiple challenges across the country which exacerbate the impact of natural disasters, including military misrule, conflict, (…)

• Lahkyen Roi

Financing for Development Priorities Today

The forthcoming UN Financing for Development conference must address developing countries’ major financial challenges. Recent setbacks to sustainable development and climate action make FfD4 critical. The forthcoming fourth United Nations Financing for Development conference must address (…)

• Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The return of recession, debt and structural adjustment

There are strong echoes across Africa of the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The reappearance of recession, debt and structural adjustment to the continent reminds us of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism. However, there are alternatives to the continent’s enduring (…)

• Peter Lawrence

South needs $2.5 trillion support package to deal with COVID-19

A $2.5 trillion support package is needed for developing countries facing unprecedented economic damage from the Covid-19 crisis, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said. “The economic fallout from the shock is ongoing and increasingly difficult to predict but there are (…)

Is Uganda really a ’refugee paradise’?

The grim reality behind the euphoric coverage of Uganda’s “exemplary” refugee policy. In April the Dutch public broadcasting agency NOS published a story on Uganda “the refugee paradise”. The article was titiled: “Welcome refugee! Uganda welcomes you with open arms!” A South Sudanese colleague (…)

• Julie Schiltz, Kristof Titeca

The borders of idealism? From third-worldism to “sans-frontiérisme”

In this particularly interesting and detailed study, Eleanor Davey traces the rise of the “sans-frontiériste” movement in France in general and, in view of this NGO’s dominant role, of “Médecins sans frontières” (MSF – Doctors without Borders) in particular, in terms of the development of (…)

• Frédéric Thomas

Democracy Discouraged: International Observers and Haiti’s 2015 Elections

The Gordian Knot of a Never-Ending Crisis The Haitian electoral crisis of 2015-2016, the focus of this excellent report, sheds light on a situation of grave importance that, I hope, may also become irreversible. Namely, an abandonment of the idea that Haiti’s salvation can only come from (…)

• Ricardo Seitenfus

Foreign aid, debt relief and Africa’s development: problems and prospects

In recent years, the Paris club granted a number of African countries, including Nigeria, debt relief. This elicited widespread celebration in the capital cities of affected countries, where it was portrayed as averitable launch-pad to Africa’s development. This paper takes a critical look at (…)

• J Shola Omotola

Sixty Years of Failed Sanctions

In response to the March 26 sinking of the South Korean ship, the Cheonan, allegedly by a North Korean submarine, the United States is poised to adopt even more stringent sanctions against North Korea. Robert Einhorn, the U.S. State Department’s special advisor for nonproliferation and arms (…)

• Christine Ahn , Haeyoung Kim

Resistance through memory

The victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster continue to assert their rights to compensation.

• Bosman Batubara