The collapse of the USSR transformed the world from a bipolar rivalry into a unipolar order dominated by the USA. Today, the rise of China and shifting global dynamics have sparked debates about unipolarity, bipolarity, and multipolarity. As the USA retreats as the principal superpower, China's dramatic ascent and the growing influence of nations like Russia, India, and the BRICS coalition signal the emergence of a complex multipolar world.This book examines the decline of the unip...

This book examines the political, diplomatic, and financial responses to the Russo-Ukraine War through the lens of Realist international relations theory. Analyzing the origins and ongoing dynamics of the conflict, the book sheds light on how the West - especially the EU and NATO - has reacted to the war and discusses the implications of its strategy. It critically explores the influence of national populism and internal disunity within the West, particularly against the background of risi...

As the war in Ukraine enters its fourth year, this book critically examines the strategies employed by the European Union (EU) and the United States (US) in their support of Ukraine. It examines how sanctions, military aid, and diplomacy have shaped the conflict and considers whether these efforts are falling short. Through political, economic, and strategic analysis, it explores the EU’s internal divisions, the changing role of US leadership under a second Trump administration, and the in...

This book offers a contemporary, cutting-edge, and advanced critical analysis of the first twenty months of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Following a realist approach and with a focus on political discord, economic sanctions, and media limitations, the book sheds light onto the deadlock between the conflicting parties. It dissects the diplomatic endeavors and missteps, varying political perspectives, Western support strategies, and the intricate global dynamics that triggered this ex...

This book investigates the geopoliticisation of foreign aid in recent years, against a background of global overarching crises such as climate change, conflict, Covid-19, economic crisis, energy shortages and migration.Foreign aid has historically been understood as assisting both with the development objectives of the recipients and with the trade and geopolitical interests of the donors. In the first decades of the 21st century, however, this balance has been shifted by a series ...

This edited book provides a contemporary, critical and thought-provoking analysis of the internal and external threats to Western multilateral development finance in the twenty-first century. It draws on the expertise of scholars with a range of backgrounds providing a critical exploration of the neoliberal multilateral development aid.The contributions focus on how Western institutions have historically dominated development aid, and juxtapose this hegemony with the recent challen...

This book provides a timely, critical, and thought-provoking analysis of the implications of the disruption of COVID-19 to the foreign aid and development system, and the extent to which the system is retaining a level of relevance, legitimacy, or coherence.Drawing on the expertise of key scholars from around the world in the fields of international development, political science, socioeconomics, history, and international relations, the book explores the impact of the COVID-19 pan...

This volume examines the impact of the Trump presidency on development aid. It starts out by describing the rise of national populism, the political landscape and the reasons for rejection of the political establishment, both under Trump and internationally. Next, it gives a historical-political overview of development aid in the post WW-II era and discusses the dominant Washington Consensus doctrine and its failure. It then provides a critique of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) ...

Across the world the Western dominated international aid system is being challenged. The rise of right-wing populism, de-globalisation, the advance of illiberal democracy and the emergence of non-Western donors onto the international stage are cutting right to the heart of the entrenched neoliberal aid paradigm. Foreign Aid in the Age of Populism explores the impact of these challenges on development aid, arguing that there is a need to bring politics back into development aid; no...

Assessing the Impact of Foreign Aid: Value for Money and Aid for Trade provides updated information on how to improve foreign aid programs, exploring the concept and practice of impact assessment within the sometimes-unproblematic approaches advocated in current literature of value for money and aid for trade. Contributors from multi-lateral agencies and NGOs discuss the changing patterns of Official Development Assistance and their effects on impact assessment, providing theoretical, poli...

From Recipients to Donors examines the emergence, or re-emergence, of a large number of nations as partners and donors in international development, from global powers such as Brazil, China and India, to Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, to former socialist states such as Poland and Russia. The impact of these countries in international development has grown sharply, and as a result they have become a subject of intense interest and analysis.This unique book explores the range of o...

In the past ten to twenty years the global political economy picture has dramatically changed with the emergence of the economies of Brazil, Russia, India and, notably, China (BRICs) as big players and competitors of the advanced economies in the West and Eastern Asia. The book comparatively analyses institutional change in the BRICs.This book examines the BRICs by analysing their institutional development, their main continuities and changes, and their differences. It provides a c...