ABSTRACT
The world is gradually changing from a Western-dominated system to one in which power is more diffuse, and the rules of the game are beginning to shift. Changes in the post-Cold War global order have also shaped trends in the field of development cooperation. The end of the bipolar balance has paved the way for new emerging players who have rapidly gained both economic and political power. These trends seem to have led African countries to realize that development can take place relatively quickly following different paths of growth. Indeed, the rapid economic growth, proactive diplomatic approach and enlargement of the areas of interest of these emerging–or (re)merging–players have transformed the landscape of international development cooperation by making it even more fluid (Mawdsley 2012). As underlined by de Renzio and Seifert (2014, 1860) “[these players] have significantly increased their engagement in development assistance and technical cooperation, and questioned the predominance and legitimacy of more traditional forms of development cooperation.” Both the scientific literature and the media tend to group these players into a variety of categories, including “new development partners” (Park 2011), “non-traditional donors” (Kragelund 2012), “emerging donors” (Mawdsley, Savage and Sung-Mi 2014) and “Southern providers” (Bracho 2015). In some cases, countries labelled as emerging donors have a very long history of development assistance. For example, China had already started development programs in Africa in the mid-1950s. For this reason, according to some scholars, what is considered emergent is their impact on global politics (Sato et al. 2010, 2).
