"The comparative study on Development Research (DR) in Germany and three other European countries was commissioned by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It gives an overview of the available resources, the institutional setting and the governance of DR in the four countries. The paper will neither provide an indepth evaluation of the DR realized by the four countries nor is it embedded in a more general discussion of the growing role of research for development cooperation. The understanding of the term DR varies largely in the four countries. In the most common and broadest definition DR is any kind of research with relevance for development and developing countries. Thus, a large number of disciplines may contribute to DR. A more restricted understanding defines DR as mainly social science based research on global and local processes of cultural, demographic, economic, environmental, political, technological and social change in low and middle income parts of the world. DR covers a wide array of applications, from feeding the academic search for new or improved knowledge to resolving immediate problems formulated by policy makers. In three of the countries, strengthening of research capabilities in the South is considered as a constitutive element of the promotion of DR." (author's abstract) ; Die vergleichende Studie der entwicklungspolitischen Forschung in Deutschland und in drei weiteren europäischen Ländern gibt einen Überblick über verfügbare Ressourcen, das institutionelle Gefüge und die Steuerung dieses Forschungsbereiches. Das Verständnis der entwicklungspolitischen Forschung weicht in den vier Ländern deutlich voneinander ab. Zunächst untersucht der Autor die Entwicklungsforschung in Deutschland. Hier wird die Forschung als Bestandteil der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit gesehen, welche vom Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Kooperation und Entwicklung (BMZ) gesteuert und finanziert wird. Darüber hinaus wird die entwicklungspolitische Forschung vom ...