Policy area: International development

Reports

Competing visions of international order

This report from UK think tank Chatham House examines responses to US power in a fracturing world. The ‘liberal international order’ that has been predominant, if often controversial, since 1945 is being challenged as never before. This reflects factors both long-standing and recent: the rise of China; the frustrations and ambitions of countries – including...

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Blue social protection: protecting people, fish and food handbook

This report from UK think tank IIED is a handbook for practitioners working in the social protection or fisheries sectors. This Handbook is for practitioners working in the social protection or fisheries sectors searching for innovative ways to promote sustainable fisheries and reduce human vulnerability. Amid a global decline in fish stocks, countries face challenges...

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Aligning debt relief for climate and nature with principles of effective development cooperation

This report from UK think tank IIED outlines a number of action points to improve the effectiveness of debt swaps. In recent years, mounting external public debt has placed significant constraints on low-income country government budgets, particularly for those countries on the frontlines of combatting climate change and biodiversity loss. Debt for climate and nature...

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Development in the pre-war era

This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity looks at reinvigorating international development as part of UK foreign and security policy. Development in the Pre-War Era makes the case for reinvigorating international development as a cornerstone of UK foreign and security policy to counteract the rising influence of autocratic regimes. Drawing on...

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Civic power in just transitions: Blocking the way or transforming the future?

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies examines civic power in just transitions. This paper reveals that opposition to mineral extraction is a pervasive global phenomenon, spanning diverse sociopolitical contexts and posing major challenges for the political sustainability of the energy transition. Using data from the Global Database of Events, Language...

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Closing the climate finance gap

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores the challenges of increasing climate finance to emerging markets and developing countries. With climate impacts getting worse and temperature records being broken, the pressure on countries to raise more money in support of climate action continues to increase. But the ‘climate finance gap’ – the difference...

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Was there a famine in Gaza in 2024?

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Development Studies explores whether there was a famine in Gaza in 2024. Three assessments by the international community concluded that there was ‘a risk of famine’ in December 2023, that a famine was ‘imminent’ in March 2024, but that this threat had receded by June 2024...

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The rising price of freedom

This report from UK think tank the Coalition for Global Prosperity looks at what spending is needed to combat the rising threats of our era. The rising intensity and frequency of global conflicts pose a significant challenge to the UK, creating instability across borders and driving millions into humanitarian crises. These heightened geopolitical tensions are...

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Building resilience for cotton farmers in India: evidence from Gujarat and Maharashtra

This report from UK think tank IIED explores the vulnerabilities of cotton farmers in the Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. India is the world’s largest cotton producer, accounting for nearly a quarter of global production. The cotton sector is crucial for India’s economy and supports the livelihoods of approximately six million farmers. However, climate...

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Syrian refugees in Jordan: reevaluating responses to protracted displacement

This report from UK think tank IIED reevaluates responses to the protracted displacement of Syrian refugees in Jordan. An estimated one in 14 residents in Jordan is a refugee, making it the world’s second largest per capita refugee host. Almost 90% of the 727,715 people registered as refugees with UNHCR in Jordan are from Syria,...

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How the circular economy can revive the Sustainable Development Goals

This report from UK think tank Chatham House explores how the circular economy could support each of the 17 SDGs. With progress on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) badly off track, international policymakers are scrambling for solutions that can both revitalize the current SDG agenda and drive more effective action on humanity’s big challenges...

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Comprehensive Climate Impact Quantification (C-CIQ): an approach to co-developing policy and programmatic responses for climate risk management

This report from UK think tank IIED offers a comprehensive step-by-step guide to quantifying and valuing economic and non-economic loss and damage. Across the world, climate impacts such as extreme heat and floods are destroying lives, livestock and property. Loss and damage occurs when the capacities of affected communities and countries are compromised to the...

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Robin Hood in reverse

This report from UK think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs looks at foreign aid spending in regions that are richer than parts of the UK. UK Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending has gone to regions of upper-middle-income countries with GDP per capita figures equal to or in excess of those reported in large parts...

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Linking forces: Western support for the Russian diaspora

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society examines Western support for the Russian diaspora. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has understandably focused the Western response on supporting Ukraine. However, the ‘as long as it takes’ rhetoric should have been relegated to the dustbin of slogan history and replaced with...

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Shaping tomorrow: a roadmap for Ukraine’s reconstruction using virtual assets

This report from UK think tank RUSI examines whether virtual assets can be used to facilitate donations to Ukraine’s urgent reconstruction efforts. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left much of the country in ruins. Rallying international support for the nation’s swift recovery has therefore become a necessity. From the beginning of the full-scale invasion,...

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