A New Landscape for Development
A Report by the CSIS Global Development Department
November 13, 2025
This three-part series from the CSIS Global Development Department examines the dramatic changes in the priorities, policies, and organizational structures of the development landscape since the second Trump administration began in 2025.
- Part I explores the context, current state, and early impacts of decisions like the move to dismantle USAID.
- Part II dives deeper into specific spheres of development to assess the initial impacts in areas such as health security and global democratic governance.
- Part III provides recommendations for impactful engagement in the changed landscape.
Part I
The Ground Has Shifted
Click the image below to read more.
Part II
Examining Impacts, Capabilities, and Opportunities
Click the image below to read more.
Click the topic area images to jump directly to those subjects.
Global Health
Humanitarian Aid, Disaster Response, and Resilience
Economic Growth Assistance
Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance
Global Food and Water Security
Global Youth Engagement
Part III
Recommendations
Click the image below to read more.
This report is made possible by general support to CSIS.
No direct sponsorship contributed to this report.
Analysis
Written by: Noam Unger & Andrew Friedman
Edited by: Hadeil Ali
Acknowledgements
Veronica McIntire, Joely Virzi, & Sophia Hirshfield
Photo Credits
Cover: This picture taken on July 12, 2024 shows an aerial view of a new toll road, which connects the future Capital City of Nusantara to Balikpapan, undergoing construction in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. | STR/AFP via Getty Images
The Ground Has Shifted: A sugar cane farmer walks across his farm, that was severely damaged by heavy rains, at the Khanyangwane sugarcane project in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga province, South Africa, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. | Guillem Sartorio/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Examining Impacts: A man plucks saffron flowers during harvest season in Pampore area of Srinagar, Indian Administered Kashmir on 05 November 2023. | Muzamil Mattoo/NurPhoto via Getty Images. Global Health: A Kenyan health worker prepares to administer a dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to her colleagues, part of the COVAX mechanism by GAVI , to help fight against coronavirus disease at the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi on March 05, 2021. | Simon Maina /AFP via Getty Images. Humanitarian Aid: Volunteers and rescue teams search a destroyed building on February 12, 2023 in Adiyaman, Turkey. | Chris McGrath/Getty Images. Economic Growth: Workers fit electrical system cabling to the interior of a BMW 3 Series automobile as it passes along the production line at the Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) AG plant in Rosslyn, South Africa, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. | Kevin Sutherland/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance: Tens of thousands of supporters gather at Heroes' Square as opposition leader Peter Magyar of the Tisza Party addresses the crowd during a 'peace march' in Budapest, Hungary, on October 23, 2025. | Robert Nemeti/Anadolu via Getty Images. Global Food and Water Security: Traders and locals gather at a wholesale fish market in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 25, 2025. | Syed Mahamudur Rahman/NurPhoto via Getty Images. Global Youth Engagement: Young people, living in Mathare slum, learn future technologies at a robotics and coding workshop in Nairobi, Kenya on May 11, 2023. | Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Recommendations: Chinese fishing nets Kochi Kerala India at sunset. | David Hastilow via Getty Images
iDeas Lab Story Production
Design by: Gina Kim & Sarah B. Grace
Project management by: Sarah B. Grace
Development by: José Romero & Mariel de la Garza
Editorial support by: Phillip Meylan, Hunter Hallman, Kelsey Hartman, & Madison Bruno
Built with Shorthand