From Philanthropy to Investment: Considering the New Role of the Private Sector in Global Development

Abstract

Global development, as a subject of academic research, is a broad concept that has historically been concerned with notions of economic development. More recently, however, the term ‘development’ has come to include a more holistic and multi-disciplinary sense of human development – a combination of economic growth, alleviating poverty, and improving living conditions, particularly within previously colonized or ‘developing’ countries. This paper analyzes the success and capabilities of private sector investment in addressing development issues – particularly with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals, which act as a set of codified development aims established by the United Nations and ratified by all of its 193 member states.