Introduction to the special issue 'unintended effects of international cooperation'

The 'Evaluation and Program Planning' journal has contributed to the launch of an academic discussion of unintended effects of international cooperation, notably by publishing in 2016 articles by Bamberger, Tarsilla, & Hesse-Biber and by Jabeen. This special issue aims to take up the academic challenges as laid down by those authors, by providing among others a clear typology and applying it, by outlining various methodological options and testing them, and elaborating on suggestions on how to deal with the barriers that prevent unintended effects being taken into account. This special issue makes clear that it is possible to reduce the share of unforeseen effects of international cooperation. Turning the spotlight on unintended effects that can be anticipated, and aiming to make progress on uncovering those that are particularly difficult to detect and debunking those that are exaggerated is the task that lies ahead of us.