Explore how populism is reshaping international cooperation and why the King’s MSc in International Development equips professionals to navigate these global shifts.
This guest post is by Professor Andy Sumner, Programme Leader for the online International Development MSc.
The international development system is at a tipping point. The rise of populist politics across the globe has unsettled the institutions and practices of development cooperation that have shaped aid, trade, and governance for decades. For those working in NGOs, policy think tanks, aid agencies, or ministries, these shifts are not abstract debates. They have real life consequences.
At King’s College London, our online MSc in International Development is designed to help professionals like you make sense of development and international cooperation and how it is changing. By engaging with current debates and the programme equips students to interpret and respond to the changing contours of international development.
Populist leaders are not necessarily opposed to all forms of international cooperation. But they tend to favour forms of cooperation that minimise the political risks of appearing to “cede control” to global institutions. Instead of universal rule-making, they may seek forms of cooperation that delivers quick, visible benefits and may even allow them to claim credit at home.
This has significant consequences.
Traditional multilateral institutions, whether the UN system, the Bretton Woods institutions tend to rely on binding commitments, consensus building, and long-term payoffs. These features clash with populist demands for short-term gains and low sovereignty costs.
As a result, new forms of cooperation are emerging: smaller, more flexible or ‘club’ like and focused on tangible deliverables rather than deep commitments.
Look out for four potential shifts:
1. Club-like coalitions rather than universal membership: Groups of states form around specific issues, sometimes bypassing or working in parallel to established institutions.
2. Tangible outcomes: Cooperation is more likely when it produces measurable results such as financing, infrastructure, or technology, that leaders can showcase domestically.
3. Low-cost commitments with easy exit options: Any agreements need to bear in mind the sovereignty constraints and provide flexibility.
4. National credit-claiming potential: Contributions that can be branded at the country level so that leaders can take ownership of outcomes may well be popular.
For practitioners, the reconfiguration of cooperation has direct implications.
Why? Because these formats may exclude or marginalise certain countries, reducing access to financing or decision-making. Short-term projects risk sidelining long-term development goals. Fragmented cooperation may weaken collective responses to global challenges such as climate change for example.
Yet, emerging powers and regional organisations in the Global South are playing greater roles in shaping new coalitions. South–South cooperation and mini-lateral initiatives are expanding.
Professionals who understand these shifts are better placed to seize openings for partnership and influence.
The MSc at King’s is built to help mid-career professionals deepen their analytical skills and apply them to real policy challenges. Through this programme you will:
By the end of the degree, you will be able to assess the opportunities and risks of different cooperation formats, anticipate the effects of political shifts on development policy, and contribute more effectively to your organisation’s strategies.
The crisis of global development cooperation is both a challenge and an invitation to rethink how cooperation can work in a more fragmented and contested political environment. As new forms of cooperation emerge, professionals need the tools to evaluate and influence them.
Studying International Development at King’s College London provides exactly that opportunity: to engage with scholarship, to learn from peers across sectors and regions, and to develop the skills to shape the future of international and development cooperation in an era of uncertainty: