Despite growing aid fatigue in the global North, the number of bilateral aid-providing states is at an all-time high and continues to expand. In this paper, we examine the paradox of new donor countries' (NDCs) dramatic growth by asking two questions. First, what is driving donor proliferation?...

Amid the polycrises of Covid-19, the conflict in Ukraine and the intensification of geopolitical tensions, mid-size European donors face pressures to leverage development cooperation to secure their foreign policy goals. These donors now deploy a diverse toolbox of development levers to...