Putting Need Before Geopolitics on Post-MDG Development Agenda

Putting Need Before Geopolitics on Post-MDG Development Agenda
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tests a communal water pump at Mwandama Millennium Village, Malawi, May 30, 2010 (U.N. photo by Evan Schneider).

Editor’s note: Guest columnist Sarah Hearn is filling in for Richard Gowan, who is on vacation this week.

At the end of March, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched a new report about international aid and development, co-authored by myself and several colleagues at New York University’s Center for International Cooperation. The report, titled “States of Fragility 2015: Meeting Post-2015 Ambitions,” comes ahead of the United Nations Summit on the Post-2015 Development Agenda in September this year, which will adopt a new set of global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire.

In the report, I and my co-authors argue that aid from the richest countries is failing the poorest and most conflict-affected countries because it is not always going where it is needed most. The reasons are primarily geopolitical: A disproportionate amount of aid in the “MDG era” was devoted to nation-building plans for Afghanistan and Iraq, while other fragile countries simmered below the aid radar—until crisis hit.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review