As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, nearly 100 articles on climate change, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
Diplomats and NGOs to blame for UN Summit failure – send them all to boot camp, ODIOverseas Development Institute (London) Blog, September 2005
Two main groups carry the blame for the relative failure of the UN Summit in New York last week. The first group are the NGOs, whose error was to focus on the wrong priorities. They should be sent back to campaigning school. The second group are the diplomats, whose collective error was to mismanage a year’s worth of negotiation. Diplomacy school would be too generous. Boot camp seems more appropriate: long hours and scant rations until re-education is complete on how to create the right incentives for reform..................
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