The root causes of many resource-related conflicts, hidden or openly violent and armed, are grounded within power constellations around conflicting interests. Within those power dynamics, national and global economic influences often override loca...

The creation of more decent jobs should be central to economic policies. The prevailing assumption that GDP growth alone will generate more decent work is not valid. And it obstructs the creation of a society in which labour serves and dignifies b...

After far-reaching cutbacks and a major shift in the mandate in favour of the Netherlands’ economic interests, Dutch development aid seems to be on its last legs. The relief troops have lost their way and are unable to mount a forceful counter-att...

Editor in Chief Frans Bieckmann argues in this editorial article that social enterprises will only really succeed if they can operate in a global economic system that rewards them for being competitive on fair, social, and environmentally sustaina...

The debate on development policy, between ‘traditional’ aid and ‘modern’ cooperation centred around trade and economic activity, is a false one. The latter is advocated in a new white paper by Dutch minister Lilianne Ploumen, but is in fact a...

At the end of the 1990s I wrote a lot about the alter-globalization movement. The movement really hit the headlines with the mass protests in Seattle and Washington and later in Prague and Genoa, and with the first gatherings of the World Social F...

Eight years ago I wrote a little booklet, analysing the speeches of the Dutch Queen:‘Creation itself is at stake’; Queen Beatrix’ views on the world, following a longer study on the involvement of her late husband, Prince Claus, with Africa and de...

On 28 November, the Broker attended an exclusive meeting of the Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity, chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Máxima of the Netherlands. The meeting took place at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. On this day,...

I recently chaired a forum that discussed whether a new paradigm has emerged in the field of development cooperation, and if so, what does it consist of? A great deal of time at these kinds of debates is spent exploring definitions and their usefu...

De Kennisbrief brengt het bouwen aan kenniscapaciteit in ontwikkelingslanden weer terug op het doelenlijstje van de Nederlandse OS. Maar is het niet tijd om voorbij Zuid-Noord te denken en in te zetten op internationale kennisnetwerken voor mondia...