New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract has been shown to enhance high-intensity intermittent treadmill running. We examined the effects of NZBC extract during the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST) which involves 5 × 15 min blocks with intermittent 15-m maximal sprints, interspersed by moderate and high-intensity running to simulate team sport activity, and a subsequent run to exhaustion. Thirteen males (age: 22 ± 1 year, trueV˙O2max: 50 ± 5 mL·kg−1·min−1) participated in three indoor sessions (T: 24 ± 3 °C, humidity: 52% ± 9%). In the first session, a multistage fitness test was completed to determine peak running speed and estimate trueV˙O2max. Participants consumed NZBC extract in capsules (300 mg·day−1 CurraNZ™) or placebo (PL) (300 mg·day−1 microcrystalline cellulose M102) for seven days in a double-blind, randomized, cross-over design (wash-out at least seven days). NZBC extract did not affect average 15-m sprint times in each block. NZBC reduced slowing of the fastest sprint between block 1 and 5 (PL: 0.12 ± 0.07 s; NZBC: 0.06 ± 0.12 s; p < 0.05). NZBC extract had no effect on heart rate, vertical jump power, lactate and time to exhaustion (PL: 13.44 ± 8.09 min, NZBC: 15.78 ± 9.40 min, p > 0.05). However, eight participants had higher running times to exhaustion when consuming NZBC extract. New Zealand blackcurrant extract may enhance performance in team sports with repeated maximal sprints.

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International development is in a period of transition. While the outcome of this is still unclear, this article argues that there are at least four areas in which the project of international development is changing. First, there is a debate, especially within the World Bank, about development strategy and how we think about development, particularly in terms of the balance between states and markets. This is evident in the debate over state failure and the new structural economics. Second, there is increasing evidence of a shift in lending, away from projects of ‘small’ human development, perhaps best encapsulated by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, towards more transformative ‘big’ development projects such as infrastructure. Third, ‘non‐traditional’ aid donors and new forms of private philanthropy are playing a more significant role in development financing and this, in turn, offers developing countries a new range of choices about what kinds of development assistance they receive. Fourth, aid relations are changing as a result of the renewed agency of developing states, particularly in sub‐Saharan Africa, and shifts towards increased South–South cooperation are growing as evidenced by increased funding from regional development banks and increased trade flows. The article reviews these changes and suggests a series of questions and challenges that arise from them for analysts of international development, developing countries and traditional aid donors.

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This article examines the changing status of ‘sovereignty’ in the context of some of the world's poorest countries. An examination of the relationship between the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and these countries suggests that the norm of sovereignty is increasingly being ‘trumped’ by the IFIs' commitment to the achievement of good political and social arrangements and economic development within these countries. The article explores the historical roots of this development by tracing the way sovereignty became bound up with the idea of self-determination, the achievement of the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the pursuit of a ‘national economic project’.