EDITORIAL
The post-Western order
Alex Rodriguez
The French demographer Alfred Sauvy coined the term third world in 1952. Carl Preston Oglesby, an American political activist, did so with the global south in 1969. He first used this expression in an article about the Vietnam War in which he argued that the “domination of the North over the global South has produced an intolerable social order.” Since that year it has been widely used in academia. It does not designate a cardinal point; refers to developing countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia that have suffered from an interconnected history of colonialisms and neocolonialisms. Vanguardia Dossier dedicates this monograph to the global south, a heterogeneous group of countries with divergent, if not incompatible, interests (Gowan), but capable of redesigning the geopolitical chessboard of the Middle East and North Africa (Rabbani).
The global south, which has been resurgent with force for two decades, questions the order born after the Second World War and wants a new one. It demands, for example, that the World Bank review its submission and incorporate financing the fight against climate change into its objectives (Otero) or that the UN take into account that, when it was created in 1945, only five African countries were independent and, therefore therefore, members as such of the organization. Today there are 54, the largest regional group in the organization, but Africa lacks a permanent seat on the Security Council, although 70% of the decisions it makes are related to the continent (De Carvalho).
The global south does not wait and move. In 2003, China, Brazil, South Africa and India questioned the rules imposed by Washington and the World Trade Organization in Doha. There the embryo of the BRICS was born, which constituted those countries with Russia seven years later, and created the New Development Bank, an alternative to the IMF and the World Bank (Aguirre). This group, which does not respond to the pattern of democracies versus autocracies because there are both, has asked to join this year another nineteen countries, including Argentina, Indonesia or Saudi Arabia (Heine).
They are countries that reject the selective moral code of the West, as evidenced by the condemnations and sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine, in which some have abstained and the vast majority have not supported. The global south proposes alternative diplomatic approaches to traditional alliances (Nair). Thus the BRICS, where China claims itself as a great power of a multipolar order (Ríos), India as a counterpower to the Asian giant (Chellaney) or Russia as leader of the anticolonialism in the global south (Milosevic). Turkey presents itself as one of the ten main providers of development cooperation (Tank) and Latin America is aware that it must face its dependency ties with the United States and China (Hirsty Toklatian).
The global south is moving towards a post-Western international order that presents notable challenges to the United States (Murithi) and that the European Union attempts to address multilaterally (Bomassi, Nairy AlShmaly). The duality of democracy versus communism of the Cold War or democracy versus autocracy proposed by the United States Government asks for passage and on land.
*The global south: conflicting definitions, diverse actors The war in Ukraine has had an unexpected effect: the relevance achieved by a series of southern countries, both due to their positions on the conflict and their demands for reforms in the international system. It would be a mistake for the West not to pay attention to them. MARIANO AGUIRRE
*Active non-alignment: the challenges of the global south The liberal international order of the West has been losing credibility with the countries of the south during this 21st century, while new political and financial structures such as the Brics, an emblem of the new south, were being created. GEORGE HEINE
*Change of power in the UN With different agendas but with the same dissatisfaction with the West's unfulfilled promises and its demands for greater involvement with Ukraine, the countries of the global south demand changes in the UN and in the current multilateral system. RICHARD GOWAN
*The war in Ukraine: settling scores with the West Non-Western countries criticize the different yardstick between the reaction to the Russian invasion and the weak reaction to numerous other wars (Libya, Yemen...). A disproportion that social networks emphasize. CHANDRAN NAIR
*China and the global south: from Mao to Xi Jinping Beijing has linked its economic rise to a strategy of rapprochement with the developing countries of the global south, of which it considers itself a part. Within its competition with the US, it wins them over with cooperation, financial support and non-interference. XULIO RÍOS
*Russian ambition: how Moscow wants to lead the global south The countries that the West calls the 'global south', and the Russians, the 'world majority', are becoming key pieces of the new international order. Moscow turns to its 'toolbox' to earn them. MIRA MILOSEVICH
*India leader: a counterpower to China? The most populous country and the fifth largest economy in the world, which has modernized and prospered through a democratic system, maintains a dangerous rivalry with its Chinese neighbor, with skirmishes on the Himalayan border. BRAHMA CHELLANEY
*Loyalty, voice or exit: Latin America and the international order Dissatisfaction with the West is also visible in Latin America, which has a very different history from the rest of the global south. MONICA HIRST AND JUAN GABRIEL TOKATLIAN
*Africa at the crossroads African countries seek an inclusive and equitable global order, which reflects the reality of a world in continuous change. They aspire to more representation in both the UN and the G-20. GUSTAVO DE CARVALHO
*Middle East: a changing geopolitics The US continues to be the guarantor of stability in the region, but new agents such as Russia or China have gained prominence and have promoted changes in regional balances. MOUIN RABBANI
*Turkish interests: influence and power in the global south Turkey has adopted a unique role as a middle power, with a Muslim identity, and has established strong cooperative, business and military ties with the south. PINAR TANK
*Challenges of the United States How will the two major parties behave with respect to the global south after the 2024 elections? An analysis of what has happened and what may come. TIM MURITHI
*Values and interests of the European Union The evolution of relations between the EU and Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa show the suitability of multilateralism. LIZZA BOMASSI, PAVI PRAKASH NAIR AND ZAKARIA AL SHMALY
· iTunes: The digital edition of VANGUARDIA DOSSIER can also be purchased through the “Vanguardia Dossier” application available for iPad and iPhone in the iTunes App Store. Downloading the app is free. Each copy costs €5.49.
·Google play: The digital edition of VANGUARDIA DOSSIER can also be purchased through the “Vanguardia Dossier” application available in the Play store for Android. Downloading the app is free. Each copy costs €5.49.
· Printed Version: The printed version of this copy of VANGUARDIA DOSSIER can be purchased at the usual kiosks and bookstores for €6.
