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July 27, 2020

The EU’s New Budget: Europe’s Recovery at The Expense of Its Long- Term Ambitions

After a four day marathon run of negotiations, the 27 Heads of State of the EU reached an agreement on both the Recovery Fund—a large fund to support the post-COVID recovery across the EU—and its new long-term budget and priorities, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027. While leaders across the EU are now hailing the deal as a “win” for their own voters and priorities, inevitably the negotiations were fundamentally driven by domestic interests and priorities, and predictably, international development has suffered as a result of the cuts.

Anita Käppeli and Mikaela Gavas
Chart of unemployment rates by nationality in Sweden -- showing higher rates for foreign nationalities than Swedes.
November 15, 2018

Policies, Outcomes, and Populism: The Integration of Migrants in Sweden

Sweden doesn’t seem to be immune to the Europe-wide trend of hostility to migration, as a significant 17.5 percent of the vote went to the Sweden Democrats, a populist, anti-immigration party. This is even more surprising given Sweden’s reputation for openness and successful integration, a perception supported by data; the country tops both this year’s Commitment to Development Index (CDI) and its migration component. So is the CDI wrong?

Lee Robinson and Anita Käppeli
Germany's performance on the various CDI components
September 17, 2018

Commitment to Development Index 2018: Europe Leads the Way

Today, we published the Commitment to Development Index (CDI) 2018, which ranks 27 of the world’s richest countries on how well their policies help the more than five billion people living in poorer countries. European countries dominate this year’s CDI, occupying the top 12 positions in the Index and with Sweden claiming the #1 spot. Here, we look at what these countries are doing particularly well in the past year to support the world’s poor, and where European leaders can still learn from others.

Anita Käppeli and Lee Robinson
January 22, 2018

What Would a New Merkel-led Grand Coalition Mean for Development? Four Recommendations for the New German Government

Yesterday, the German Social Democrats (SPD) voted in favour of pursuing in-depth coalition talks with Angela Merkel’s Conservatives (CDU). Although the chancellor’s battle for political survival is far from over (as the final coalition agreement will have to be backed by the majority of SPD’s 443,000 party members), it is likely that we will see a remaking of a grand coalition. Here we look what that would mean for Germany’s leadership on development.

Anita Käppeli and Hauke Hillebrandt
international investment agreements
January 18, 2018

International Investment Agreements: Not Fit for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda

In a world with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the international investment policy system stands as an obsolete regime in urgent need of revision and reform. This is the main conclusion of the analysis that the think tank CIECODE conducted for CGD’s 2017 Commitment to Development Index (CDI). The analysis measures the amount of “sustainable development content” included in International Investment Agreements (IIAs) signed between developing and developed countries. Here, we look at best practices, main issues and which countries could do better.

Anita Käppeli, Javier Perez and Maria Vega

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