As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated.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.
Multilateralism in action, ODIOverseas Development Institute (London) Blog, October 2008
A renewed commitment to multilateralism may be one of the benefits of the financial crisis. Coordinated action by Governments and Central Banks is one indicator of change. There are others.
For example, Douglas Alexander (the UK Secretary of State for International Development) gained a victory in Washington at the weekend, securing agreement that the next President of the World Bank should be appointed through open competition, rather than simply through US nomination. The Guardian reported that ‘Douglas Alexander, brokered a deal to throw open the post to candidates from any country. Backed by European governments and developing countries, Alexander overcame resistance from the US and Japan’. Good job. This is a long-standing item on the multilateral reform agenda..............
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