Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to provide the tensions and contradictions of South–South Development Cooperation (SSDC) research within a highly uneven global academy and its associated actors, structures, funding environments and research foci. It argues that both the theories and methods used to analyse SSDC need to be broadened and deepened. The book addresses the contests over terms, definitions and concepts, and the inherently political nature of projecting particular ideas and approaches as normative or transformative. The ‘rise of the South’ has led to fundamental shifts in global development ideas, practices, norms and actors. SSDC remains a policy ‘buzzword’, and as such its study prompts academic researchers to engage more widely with a range of non-academic institutions such as think tanks, government bureaucracies and civil society organizations.