Open Access

Imme Scholz, Elizabeth Sidiropoulos

• Any political phenomenon can only be properly understood in its broader con-text. Questions of international cooperation are thus necessarily framed by his-torical processes and relations of power. We therefore start our first discussion with an examination of the global ‘status quo’ and embed the topic of this pub-lication, ODA graduation, into the shifting world order, analysing current roles and settings in international relations and identifying changes in positions, sta-tus and categories. What are the overarching issues determining world politics and who are the old and the new actors driving them? What is the impact of these global shifts on international cooperation, especially development coop-eration? Of what relevance are roles, status and categories and what is the im-pact of changes in positions and relations? What challenges face multilateralism and what ways exist to maintain and renew strategic partnerships and shared values?