A “global partnership for sustainable development” is the 17th of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the Agenda 2030. This edited volume focuses on three specific areas of partnerships: Development cooperation, the global economy, as well as knowledge production and sharing. Despite the far-reaching commitments to create global partnerships in different areas, research still points to shortcomings and problematic aspects that have been shaped by colonialism and continue to reflect unequal power relations between the global North and South. This chapter outlines the state of research on partnerships within these three areas, highlighting how global power imbalances and structures rooted in colonialism continue to shape today’s global political economy and obstruct global partnership. This is followed by an introduction to the concept of neocolonialism as the book’s guiding theoretical framework and ends with an overview of the book’s chapters.