Global South Must Assert Own Interests As Global Order Evolves

By Wan Muhammad Aslah Wan Razali

KUALA LUMPUR, July 2 (Bernama) -- Emerging middle powers, including Malaysia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Turkiye, and Mexico, should chart their own strategic course and pursue their own interests rather than adopting the agenda of established middle powers as the global order evolves.

Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, Professor of International and Comparative Politics, Dr Dawisson Belém-Lopes, said emerging and established middle powers represented fundamentally different political realities and should not be viewed as a single group.

Speaking at the 39th Asia-Pacific Roundtable (APR), he said that emerging middle powers, largely comprising countries from the Global South, had never been fully comfortable with the post-World War Two liberal international order and had long called for deep reforms to the global system.

He said these countries also have different historical experiences and priorities compared to established middle powers.

“The so-called Global South is gaining ground. We now have both more resources and some institutional platforms we could not rely on in the past,” he said, during the session titled “Rogue World Order: Power, Principles, and Pragmatism on Wednesday.”

Meanwhile, University of Queensland Chancellor Peter Varghese said the world is currently “in between international orders,” with the post-war system which is largely led by the United States (US) gradually unravelling.

Varghese, who was former secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the shift was driven not only by the current US administration but also by long-term structural changes, including China’s rise, the move towards a multipolar world, the weakening of the Washington Consensus, and the growing influence of identity and cultural politics.

However, he said rebuilding a new multilateral system would take time. He warned that while agency was necessary, it was not sufficient to create a new world order and countries should instead focus on strengthening regional and cross-regional cooperation.

Another panelist, Keio University Japan Professor of International Relations, Dr Ken Jimbo, said Asia would remain central to the evolving global order despite shifts in US foreign policy.

He said the US would continue to rely on regional partnerships to advance its strategic objectives, even under an America First agenda, while countries such as Japan remain dependent on a free and open rules-based international order for their security and economic prosperity.

The two-day event was organised by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia under the theme “Accelerating Agency and Action.”

-- BERNAMA

Global South Must Assert Own Interests As Global Order Evolves

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