Policy area: International development

Reports

Preventing violent extremism: Integration amid a funding crisis

This report from UK think tank RUSI stresses the need to integrate preventing and countering VE across development and security coverage. By contextualising violent extremism (VE) within broader conflict systems, this paper stresses the need to integrate preventing and countering VE across development and security coverage. Despite several conceptual and operational barriers, this approach would...

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How Europe can help Iranians break the internet shutdown

This report from UK think tank ECFR looks at how France and the UK can use their satellite terminals to provide internet access to Iranians. Tehran has used a communications blackout to suppress nationwide protests and control information flows. French and UK governments can use their own satellite terminals to provide Iranians with independent internet...

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Properly protected

This report from UK think tank Bright Blue analyses the relationship between the asylum and modern slavery systems before proposing new policies to lessen modern slavery cases. ‘Modern slavery’ is a hidden but pervasive crime that disproportionately affects vulnerable people, especially asylum seekers, who become trapped in cycles of coercion and abuse. While exact numbers...

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Locally implemented or locally led? Tracking finance for community climate action

This report from UK think tank the International Institute for Environment and Development looks at tracking finance for community climate action. Local communities are directly affected by the impacts of climate change and are essential to developing and implementing effective responses. As a result, it has never been more important to understand, track and measure...

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Rethinking UK aid policy in an era of global funding cuts

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines how the government can best respond to the security and geopolitical risks of this new era of aid scarcity. The crisis in the global system of foreign aid is a problem for the effectiveness of the UK’s own aid strategy. By 2026, global aid is expected...

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How to bolster food security through global early-warning systems

This report from UK think tank Chatham House looks at countering cascading risks with enhanced monitoring and response preparedness. Extreme weather events and turbulent geopolitics are severely impacting global food security. While there are monitoring mechanisms in use for certain single hazards (e.g. flooding) that can impact food production, these systems often have a narrow...

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Promising development

This report from UK think tank the Fabian Society discusses the future of aid in an uncertain world. The postwar international order is breaking down – and with it, the international aid system. In particular, important donor countries, including the US and UK, have reduced the amount of development support they provide. The shock of...

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ICJ climate opinion: implications for investment treaties

This report from UK think tank IIED unpacks what the advisory opinion means for international investment law. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its advisory opinion on the ‘Obligations of states in respect of climate change’. The opinion confirms that states have legally binding obligations to protect the climate system and...

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Jordan and the UK: An anchor of stability in a volatile region

This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity sets out why supporting Jordan is a strategic necessity for the UK. Jordan has long been one of the UK’s most important allies in the Middle East. Despite immense pressures – from hosting millions of refugees and coping with water scarcity, to confronting regional...

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Transatlantic ties: UK-US relations to 2045

This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity outlines how the UK can deepen and renew the special relationship over the next 20 years. The UK is facing the most volatile and unpredictable global environment since the Second World War, a situation the Ministry of Defence has called a "pre-war era." In...

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BFPG’s 2025 annual survey of UK public opinion on foreign policy and global affairs

This report from UK think tank the British Foreign Policy Group explores the British public’s opinion on foreign policy and global affairs. BFPG’s 2025 Annual Survey, the seventh iteration of the survey which began in 2019, finds that public support for the ‘special relationship’ has collapsed, with President Trump seen to be undermining the UK’s...

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Scoping corruption in voluntary carbon markets

This report from UK think tank RUSI aims to provide a scoping review of the structural and operational features of voluntary carbon markets that expose them to corruption risk. Allegations of weak oversight, fraud and corruption in voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) have caused substantial market uncertainty. VCMs involve the generation and trading of carbon offsets,...

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Rapid scoping review: anti-rollback actors and strategies

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies reviews queer and feminist organisations and social movements countering roll back in 14 countries. This rapid scoping review maps out the landscape of rollback politics across four key areas: sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI); sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); gender-based violence...

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Mobilizing ‘Team Ukraine’ for a successful recovery

This report from UK think tank Chatham House proposes a series of recommendations designed to make Ukraine’s recovery more effective. The post-war reconstruction of Ukraine is one of the most significant long-term economic and political challenges facing Europe today. Although the war is ongoing, planning for recovery is under way. To return Ukraine successfully to...

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Modern slavery: A global crisis with local consequences

This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity analyses the UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015 a decade after its implementation. This report from the Coalition for Global Prosperity analyses the UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015 a decade after its implementation. While initially a landmark piece of legislation, the report argues that its...

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