The 5th Joint Nordic Conference on Development Research

The 5th Joint Nordic Conference on Development Research is the main arena for academic debates and policy exchanges in development studies in the Nordic countries. It is hosted by the Copenhagen Business School from 27-28th June 2019. The conference is jointly organized by the associations for development research in Denmark (FAU), Finland (FSDR), Norway (NFU), and a Swedish committee (SDSN). This year’s international conference addresses the global challenges of asymmetric local and global power relations and the deepening divides between North and South. Politically, academically, socially and on a range of other fronts, Northern governments have increasingly returned to a narrow minded, self-oriented development path. Despite official rhetoric such as the SDGs and the Paris Declaration, the spirit and practice of solidarity is more remote than for years. Restrictions on academic movement, prioritization of North-centered issues and lack of interest in addressing key social and environmental challenges in the South are some of the worrying trends. However, divides and imbalances are not only observable between countries and regions, but emerging within societies across the planet. Elite projects and exclusivist populism are a global phenomenon and affect the well-being of people everywhere. The conference aspires to address these trends and challenges through a format including keynote presentations, panels and working groups, roundtables and poster presentations, and to enable dialogue and networking between participants from all parts of the world. We welcome especially contributions that analyze and challenge global divides in the thematic areas of knowledge production; institutions of global governance; distribution of resources and wealth but also of risks; migration and climate change policies; or the formulation and implementation of the SDGs, to name but a few.