The second term of US President Donald Trump has catalyzed a profound disruption of international development cooperation. With the dismantling of USAID, abrupt budget cuts, and the United States’ withdrawal from multilateral frameworks, the global development system is undergoing a deep structural reordering. This panel explores how Trump’s explicitly anti-multilateralist and transactional agenda has reshaped global norms, eroded the legitimacy of long-standing coordination bodies such as UN funds and programmes and the OECD DAC, and accelerated the transition toward a multipolar, interest-driven development landscape.

Crucially, this transformation has opened space for systemic realignment, particularly in the Global South. As countries reposition themselves through multialignment, South–South cooperation, and strategic ties with powers like China and Russia, new opportunities—and risks—are emerging. These include deeper dependencies, greater fragmentation, and rising vulnerability to external coercion.

The panel invites contributions that critically examine this changing landscape from multiple angles: the politicization of aid, humanitarian consequences of US withdrawal, emerging development strategies, and the convergence of geopolitics and development. Special attention will be given to the normative consequences of the Trump era and the need for new, pluralistic models of cooperation. Submissions from both theoretical and empirical perspectives are welcome.

This panel is organised by the EADI Working Group on "Global Crises"