Southern leaders, Northern followers? Who has ‘socialised’ whom in international development? 1

This chapter explores the ways in which ‘Northern’ donors appear to be increasingly adopting some of the narratives and practices associated with ‘Southern’ development partners. This direction of travel stands in sharp contrast to expectations in the early new millennium that the (so-called) ‘traditional’ donors would ‘socialise’ the ‘rising powers’ to become ‘responsible donors’. After outlining important caveats about these terms, the chapter explores three aspects of this ‘North’ to ‘South’ movement. These are (a) the stronger and more explicit claim to ‘win-win’ development ethics and outcomes; (b) the (re)turn from ‘poverty reduction’ to ‘economic growth’ as the central analytic of development; and (c) related to both, the explicit and deepening blurring and blending of development finances and agendas with trade and investment. None of these are absolutely ‘new’, but they are expanding and deepening characteristics of a Northern development cooperation that appears to be in some ways increasingly following the South.