Centre for Development Studies
Current news and updates from the field of International Development
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CDS Blog - International development: past, present and prospects – a call to widen participation in the CDS 50th Anniversary conference in September.
by James Copestake 2025 may not be a good year for ‘celebrating’ fifty years of research into international development, but it seems very timely to be reflecting on ‘what next’. This will be front-and-centre during the Development Studies Association Conference...
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Sustainable Earnings in a Resilient Economic System: The Power of Groupthink in Channelling Finance Towards Sustainable Goals
By Aurelie Charles Since childhood, I have always been fascinated to see the way our actions are often tainted by our upbringing, culture, beliefs and values, which has the tendency to silence slowly our child’s voice inside. The cognitive process...
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“The rise and fall of the Department for International Development” by Mark Lowcock and Ranil Dissanayanke: a review
By James Copestake DFID lasted 23 years, created as an autonomous department by the incoming Labour government of Tony Blair in 1997 and dissolved by the Conservative government headed by Boris Johnson in June 2020. This book tells its story...
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Winds of Change? The political present and futures in South Asia
Students march in Dhaka as they demand justice for victims arrested and killed in the recent nationwide violence [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]. Image courtesy of Aljazeera, 3rd August 2024 In June, India’s national elections brought Narendra Modi back to power,...
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“Navigating the polycrisis” by Michael J. Albert: a review.
By James Copestake It doesn’t follow from the failure of countries to follow a neat progression from feudalism to communism via capitalism that Karl Marx had nothing useful to say about causal mechanisms affecting the course of history. Likewise, we...
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Rethinking Renewables
By Asha Amirali, first published in Dawn. WHY is renewable energy in the doldrums in Pakistan despite annual oil import bills of $27 billion? There are many explanations, but most common is the lack of finance. No one wants to...
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Billionaire backlash shows the power of basic income
Neil Howard writes about how the success of basic income pilots in the US has scared the rich so much that they are rallying against more pilots. This piece was first published in Al Jazeera. Last month, the US state...
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Yes, institutions matter for national digitization journeys, particularly innovative endogenous institutions that include women
By Ruth Goodwin-Groen When I started as the Founding Managing Director of the United Nations hosted Better Than Cash Alliance in October 2012 (having recently completed a mid-career PhD at Bath), the goal was clear: to create a global movement...
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New article on mixed-methods evaluation
By James Copestake on May 12, 2024 02:48 pm Any academic will tell you that one of the high points of their research is seeing work finally published; so I’m delighted (and relieved!) to be able to share the news...
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Fears about falling birthrate in England and Wales are misplaced – the population is due to grow for years to come
Mel Channon challenges a common misconception about trends in population growth. This piece was first published in the Conversation. The number of babies born in England and Wales in 2022 fell by 3.1% compared to the previous year. The average...
