The global development system is being remade in real time. Needs are rising, financing is shrinking, and the traditional donors that once anchored the system are pulling back. The “rupture” that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described in his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month is now disrupting international aid — creating not only a shortfall in funding but a vacuum in leadership.
Into this space has stepped a diverse and increasingly influential group of “middle power” countries alongside Carney’s Canada. Across the global south and north, from Latin America and Europe to Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Gulf countries, middle powers are no longer peripheral players in development cooperation. They are becoming central to whether the system adapts — or fractures further.
The future of development cooperation may be shaped less by what the largest powers decide, and more by what middle powers choose to do together.
About the author
Nicole Goldin
Nicole Goldin is head of equitable development at UNU-Centre for Policy Research and nonresident senior fellow of the Atlantic Council. She leads research on development cooperation and effectiveness, inequality, inclusive growth, AI and digital finance in development. Among prior roles, she was lead economist at the World Bank, senior adviser at the U.S. State Department and USAID. She holds a doctorate in economics.
