The crises and wars of our time cannot be brought to an end without international cooperation. Reducing spending on development cooperation and humanitarian aid is therefore a wrong move – which will also ultimately harm us.
Last weekend’s Munich Security Conference made it clear that, without a strong multinational framework, it will be impossible to tackle either acute crises such as those in Ukraine or Gaza and Israel or “grand challenges” such as the climate crisis. In many countries, growing geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, and social structural change are strengthening political forces that are retreating into nationalist silos and dismiss international cooperation as elitist. This weakens democratic institutions and the multilateral order and, by extension, the green transformation agenda.
In order to strengthen multilateral problem-solving capabilities, cooperation with Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East is indispensable: for trade purposes but also to combat the causes of global crises and to manage and resolve wars and conflicts for which the West alone does not have sufficient strength or legitimacy. This applies both to the so-called “middle powers” – including Brazil, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – and to countries with less international political weight. In the words of Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar, India sees itself as “non-West” but not “anti-West” – a view shared by many similar states.
Such collaborations are primarily financed through development cooperation, and it is precisely here that the Bundestag made swingeing cuts in the 2024 budget. This has affected various ministries. According to the SPIEGEL, the budget of the Federal Ministry of Development has shrunk the most compared to the previous year: to the tune of 940 million euros. Meanwhile, the Federal Foreign Office has around 770 million less at its disposal, primarily in the area of humanitarian aid, while the budget of the Federal Ministry of Economics is down by 200 million euros.
That sends the wrong signal.
Spending on development cooperation and humanitarian aid is not a “nice to have”; it is a necessary investment in cooperation for human security, climate and environmental protection, human rights, democracy, and peace. The new [German] national security strategy, published in 2023, quite rightly describes these fields of action as essential elements of a new understanding of security and a new security policy in the 21st century.
This means that even if German and European defence capabilities are strengthened and optimally positioned, they will not be able to do without these forms of cooperation – nor can they neglect them now. Deterrence – now needed – and investments in an expanded understanding of security should be developed in a much more parallel and complementary fashion, not offset against each other.
It is perhaps unsurprising, therefore, that an appeal for an increase to the development budget issued by various well-known former federal politicians was also signed by Christoph Heusgen, chair of the Munich Security Conference.
In order for cooperation to strengthen trust in Germany, in Europe, and in the multilateral order in general, new approaches are needed that focus on mutual benefit and balancing interests. Examples include multi-year partnerships with India or South Africa for the conversion and expansion of energy systems towards renewable energies and raw materials partnerships that not only secure access to critical resources but also create added value locally – with good working conditions and without destroying the environment. This would also require the involvement of the ministries responsible for trade policy, research and technology cooperation, and cooperation on the rule of law and the fight against corruption.
But we must also be able to demonstrate and finance solidarity in a very concrete way. According to UN figures, 300 million people will be dependent on humanitarian aid this year, a figure that quadrupled between 2014 and 2023. Given the wars in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine and the worsening climate crisis, we cannot assume that this trend will reverse.
In this situation, we need to make more effort, not less. To improve the quality of cooperation and to underpin the credibility of our intentions. And to invest more in cultivating relationships, building knowledge, and cultural exchange.
In September 2024, the United Nations Summit of the Future will be held in New York. Its aim is to prompt various reforms within the UN, strengthen it as an actor, and ready it for new challenges such as cybersecurity. It is also strongly in our interest to reform and strengthen the UN to make the institutions that monitor compliance with human rights and international law more effective.
The fact that some politicians still consider these investments to be unnecessary is a sign of short-sightedness and ultimately plays into the hands of nationalist and far-right forces.
In the general debate on the budget held in the Bundestag in late January, the AfD spoke of “anti-German foreign policy” and the billions being given away by the Ministry of Development “in all corners of the globe”. The CDU also warned that “people in Germany get the feeling that we care more about the climate resilience of major Indian cities than about the question of when the bus will arrive in the Erzgebirge”. The AfD, riding this wave, is now calling international cooperation into question and wants to axe development cooperation and humanitarian aid for ideological reasons. We must not allow this to happen.
Nationalist narratives are poison for peace and social cohesion. This is what drove hundreds of thousands of people in eastern and western Germany to protest right-wing extremism in recent weeks. Rightly so. This is not just about how we live together in Germany and Europe, but also about our relationship with the Global South and our ability to show solidarity with people in need – be it in Africa, Latin America, Asia, or the Middle East. The full spectrum of Germany’s democratic political parties needs to take a stand, joined by the entire breadth of society. We must remain a reliable partner in international cooperation, and we need to become more innovative. The many crises that can only be managed globally – and our common humanity – demand this.
böll.column
Get involved! There’s no other way to be real – thus the message of Heinrich Böll, and, to this day, his encouragement is inspiring us. With this column the Presidents of the Foundation involve themselves in current social and political debates. This column will appear each month, authored, in turn, by Jan Philipp Albrecht and Imme Scholz.
