Author

Seungjoo Lee is a professor of political science and international relations at Chung-Ang University.

Abstract

The global politics of development cooperation in the twenty-first century is rapidly changing. This is symbolized by the fact that in spite of the 2008 financial crisis, the main donating states have actually increased the volume of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Development cooperation in the twenty-first century is closely related to the issue of how to manage interdependence at different levels in a globalized world. In particular, an area of focus will be on how to supervise collective actions in response to the increased number of actors while harmonizing diverse models of development cooperation. At the same time, development cooperation contains aspects of strategic interest in which major states wish to use this development cooperation architecture for formulating a new world order for the twenty-first century. In other words, the states are striving to influence the redesign of development cooperation architecture, which progresses in tandem with a changing world order of the 21st century, which will help them to become more vocal in the process of world order re-structuring.

The changing architecture of development cooperation is a new opportunity for South Korea, which has transformed from an aid recipient to donor country. South Korea has been working to strengthen the diplomacy of development cooperation by joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC). The significance of Seoul’s development cooperation diplomacy remains more notable in East Asia. While South Korea is embracing development cooperation norms and order centered on the OECD-DAC regime, China is seeking an independent development cooperation paradigm outside such a regime in order to extend its influence globally. Besides, Japan is currently devising a new development policy after suffering policy failure in the past. Southeast Asian states on the other hand still remain aid recipients. As mentioned above, East Asia consists of states with different level, scale, and characteristics in terms of development cooperation policy, delineate the complexity of the regional architecture. How to effectively respond to the complexity of development cooperation in East Asia remains an important challenge for South Korea. Furthermore, the diplomacy of development cooperation would contribute to a sustainable development in the complex world politics of the twenty-first century. At the same time, it has the potential to further a country’s national interests and enhance its national standing. Therefore, development cooperation diplomacy is a challenge and an opportunity for South Korea.

The full text in Korean is available here