On 14 June 1999, a one-day workshop was convened jointly by ODI and the European Development Policy Study Group of the Development Studies Association. The objectives were to reflect on the current state of thinking with regard to European development cooperation, and to discuss future research priorities. The meeting was funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, which had recently published its Institutional Strategy Paper on Europe (DFID, Working in Partnership with the European Community, December 1998). DFID saw the meeting as an opportunity to reflect with the research community – from the UK and beyond – on how to implement it.
The participants discussed five main themes: institutional issues; the European Commission’s (EC) aid policies; external relations and politics; trade and investment; and conflict, relief and humanitarian issues. Each theme was discussed in a working group, based on a background paper prepared by an invited expert. Experts and groups were asked to address five main questions:
· the main research areas (what issues need to be researched?)
· the research modalities (how?)
· the networks and collaborations (with whom?)
· the relevant time table (when?)
· dissemination (for whom and how?)
This report brings together the revised versions of the papers, to which their authors have incorporated the results of the groups’ discussions.