The Global South asks for passage. Developing and underdeveloped countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia are moving together towards a new world order different from the current one, dominated by a West whose liberal system has been losing credibility over time. Taking advantage of this circumstance, the Global South has created new political and financial structures such as the BRICS – a political and economic forum made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – or the G-77. Now, the family of countries has increased from 77 to 134. Territories to which China usually joins, although Beijing denies. If you put numbers, all these countries represent 79% of the world population and 36% of the international Gross Domestic Product, figures that demonstrate the power of the Global South.
The new issue of Vanguardia Dossier analyzes how the actors that make up the Global South play the same melody, although each one with different instruments. They all question and want to change the geopolitical alliances established after the Second World War, and they want to achieve this through rules and institutions more favorable to their interests, calling for the reform of the World Bank to help finance the ecological transition or demanding a new distribution of powers in the United Nations. Of course, to form this common melody, each territory claims its interests, heterogeneous and divergent in many cases.
Africa aspires to have more representation in international forums, seeking a world order more favorable to its interests. Latin America appears dissatisfied with the West. The Middle East continues to make geopolitical balances with the United States, guaranteeing the stability of the region. And in Asia, China and India stand out. The latter, the most populous country in the world, has modernized, prospered and become one of the most relevant internationally. And who knows if it could act as a counterpower to China.
To all these aspirations, the rest of the global actors respond differently. The United States, China’s main rival, is awaiting the elections in November next year to see if its strategies are renewed, while the European Union is trying to practice multilateralism. On the other hand, Russia is embroiled in the war in Ukraine, a conflict that is nothing more than a settling of scores with the West, according to the countries of the Global South. Specifically, they complain about the different moral code for measuring the reaction to the Ukraine war as opposed to the response to other conflicts such as those in Libya or Yemen. This has been seen in the votes on condemnations and sanctions against Russia, in which many of these countries have abstained or voted against.
Russia, in addition to the conflict with Ukraine, also has global ambitions and is trying to win over countries like Venezuela, Syria, Mali, Burkina Faso or Sudan. On the other hand, countries like Turkey, a middle power with strong ties of cooperation, also demand more influence in a Global South whose voice wants to sound increasingly louder in the world.
