Multilayered World Order and South Korea’s Middle Power Diplomacy: The Case of Development Cooperation Policy

Multilayered World Order and South Korea’s Middle Power Diplomacy: The Case of Development Cooperation Policy

With MDGs being scheduled to be phased out in 2015, major players ofdevelopment cooperation have come to share a growing consensus that a new worldorder is absolutely necessary. However, in contrast to the late 1990s where traditionaldonors exerted an overwhelming dominance in shaping the new agenda for theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs), the global landscape of developmentcooperation has become much more complex in the 21st century. The transition intothis new era does not play out in a political vacuum, as a diverse range of players andstakeholders with varying views and shifting roles actively participate in the globaldiscussion on development. Three factors are clearly at work in creating the new worldorder of development cooperation in the 21st century: power shift, the complex natureof the global governance in development cooperation, and national strategies ofdevelopment cooperation policy. The current landscape of development cooperationneeds middle powers to take more initiative and embrace an expanded role. Thischange also coincides with South Korea’s ambitious launch of its middle powerdiplomacy strategy. Development cooperation and middle power diplomacy werecombined to form an important pillar of South Korea’s diplomacy.

With MDGs being scheduled to be phased out in 2015, major players ofdevelopment cooperation have come to share a growing consensus that a new worldorder is absolutely necessary. However, in contrast to the late 1990s where traditionaldonors exerted an overwhelming dominance in shaping the new agenda for theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs), the global landscape of developmentcooperation has become much more complex in the 21st century. The transition intothis new era does not play out in a political vacuum, as a diverse range of players andstakeholders with varying views and shifting roles actively participate in the globaldiscussion on development. Three factors are clearly at work in creating the new worldorder of development cooperation in the 21st century: power shift, the complex natureof the global governance in development cooperation, and national strategies ofdevelopment cooperation policy. The current landscape of development cooperationneeds middle powers to take more initiative and embrace an expanded role. Thischange also coincides with South Korea’s ambitious launch of its middle powerdiplomacy strategy. Development cooperation and middle power diplomacy werecombined to form an important pillar of South Korea’s diplomacy.