From Copenhagen to Doha: A critical reflection on the reconfiguring of social development, knowledge and authority through global social work

Thirty years after the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, the Second World Summit in Doha in 2025 offered an opportunity to reconsider how social development is understood and governed. This paper examines the shift from state-centred political commitment towards more distributed and multi-actor forms of governance. Drawing on a governmentality perspective, it explores how social…