Photo: AFP/Luis Tato
András Kosztur
20/09/2024 06:00
The Global South is not just a geographical designation, not least because a significant proportion of its countries are located in the northern hemisphere. Rather, it is rooted in differences in economic development, and is in fact a legacy of the Cold War: today, we largely refer to the Global South as countries that were previously - somewhat pejoratively - referred to as the Third World, and which belonged neither to the advanced capitalist countries nor to the socialist camp, but were the terrain of competition between the two models.
Latin America and Africa as a whole, as well as much of Asia, can therefore be considered part of the global South, but despite its southern location, Australia and New Zealand are not, nor are the traditional allies of the Western world, such as Japan, South Korea and Israel, which are geographically part of Asia. The biggest conundrum is the classification of China, which is reflected in the only formal organisation of the global South, the G77 group of developing countries, founded by the former Non-Aligned Movement. The group, which now comprises 134 countries, considers the East Asian giant a member, but Beijing, despite its political and financial support for the G77, does not consider itself a member, and the term G77+China has become commonplace in the group's communications. China, although in many respects on a similar trajectory to the Global South, now plays more of a patronage-support role among them.
It is also largely the 'South' that makes up the expanding membership of the BRICS group, in which the concept of the Global South also coincides with another historical-civilisational interpretative framework, namely the 'Others', which is opposed to the West. In this respect, Russia, like China, and in keeping with its historical tradition, sees itself as one of the leaders of these countries, for which the historical grievances and current conflicts of interest of the 'South' countries vis-à-vis the West provide a sufficient basis.
But there are already a number of emerging powers and middle powers in the Global South that are themselves aspiring to similar leadership. India, Brazil and South Africa are the most prominent, but several countries in the Middle East and Indonesia are also working to raise their international profile.
However, leadership should be understood primarily as international authority, not as dominance or hegemony. The Global South is not a united bloc, and their political agenda is precisely to balance the major powers (the US, China, Russia) - in their own interests. More and more of them now have the weight to do so, as the growing importance of the G20 and the efforts to involve the 'South' in the conclusion of the war in Ukraine show. And economic and international political trends point to the fact that these countries will become even more important in the future and will become an unavoidable factor in shaping global developments.