Introduction: Beyond Aid – The Future of Development Cooperation

This introduction explains the rationale behind this issue of the IDS Bulletin, and identifies the key issues and research questions addressed by the contributors. In so doing, it identifies the emerging outlook of future international development cooperation, such as the new model, approaches, and characteristics of international development cooperation embodied by the traditional and emerging donors. This introduction notes the economic, political, and development trajectories of international development cooperation, and explores how the changing dynamics affect the future of these partnerships. It also presents the central argument that runs throughout the studies; namely, that whilst the ‘emerging economies’ have excited worldwide attention, and scholarly and policy interest, there has been an over-concentration on a limited number of ‘emerging donors’, particularly the BRICS economies, a consequential neglect and underestimation of the importance of the wider range of ‘new donors’, and a pressing need for a more holistic approach to analysis and understanding.