The social fragmentation of societies is one of the greatest challenges for peace, democracy and human rights worldwide. For some years now, observers have been witnessing ever-stronger tendencies towards social division, also in Western societies, which had been believed to be united for so...

Development finance is at a turning point, as the macroeconomic environment has changed profoundly and the financing gap for low- and middle-income countries has widened. The events that led to this new situation are the multiple crises that the global economy is facing, such as the climate...

Im Politikfeld der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (EZ) wird die Frage nach deren Wirksamkeit umfänglich diskutiert. Doch trotz zahlreicher Kontroll- und Evaluierungsformate, die zu Lernprozessen und damit zu einer Steigerung der Wirksamkeit führen sollen, ist diese Steigerung häufig nicht...

This study sets out to examine state-society relations in Iraq through the conceptual lens of the social contract and also provides a starting point for deriving potential areas of activity for external actors, such as German development cooperation (DC) and technical cooperation (TC). These...

The effectiveness of development cooperation (DC) is a topic of extensive debate in this policy field. Yet despite numerous review and evaluation formats designed to promote learning processes and hence enhance effectiveness, it is often impossible to document these improvements. Against this...

In recent years, many jurisdictions have developed sustainability taxonomies that aim to increase transparency of financial markets and redirect capital flows to sustainable investments. Such sustainable finance policies can be important levers because today’s investments shape economic...

Africa is currently undergoing the most rapid urbanisation process globally, and this trend is forecast to persist in the coming decades. Many believe that this ongoing rapid urbanisation process is changing the social fabric and reshaping social cohesion. This study explores the theoretical...

We use new data on political connections from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys to examine the impact of connections on firms’ participation in global value chains (GVCs) for six MENA countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon). In addition to political...

Green hydrogen – produced with renewable energy – is indispensable for the decarbonisation of economies, especially concerning “hard-to-abate” activities such as the production of steel, cement and fertilisers as well as maritime transport and aviation. The demand for green hydrogen is...