The term 'Global South' has become a buzzword in recent times. Politicians, economists, scholars, development practitioners, journalists, commentators oftentimes use this word so much so that people in general have started believing it to be something important. So, it's worth explaining the importance of this 'buzzword'.
Geographically, Global South, having higher latitude, consists of 32 countries below the equator mainly in the southern hemisphere which includes Africa, Latin America and the Caribbeans, Asia without Israel, Japan and South Korea, and Oceania without Australia and New Zealand. As can be seen, some countries included in the Global South are situated in the northern hemisphere, such as India, China and all of those in the northern half of Africa. At the same time, some countries such as Australia and New Zealand geographically are situated in the southern hemisphere but are not considered as part of the Global South.
The Global North contains most of the world’s landmass and has roughly 25% of the world's population but possesses 80% of the wealth. Equatorial countries producing mainly primary goods are poorer or less developed than the most technologically advanced Global North countries situated further from the equator in terms of GDP per capita or HDI. Most former colonies belong to the Global South which is still believed to be dominated both politically and economically by the Global North where colonizers used to reside.
These 32 countries seemingly contrast the 54 countries that lie entirely in the northern hemisphere. Global South, as its leaders claim, contains a global majority. This claim might gain its validity only if India and China are in it while India has the world’s largest population and China has the second largest— both vying for leadership of the Global South. Both recently held diplomatic conferences for that purpose.
Global South may well be compared to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) that was founded in 1961. During the Cold War, countries that were aligned neither with the US nor the Soviet blocs used to be called ‘Third World’ which is synonymous with NAM while its objective was to advance the interests of developing countries in the context of Cold War confrontation. In the first three decades, it played a crucial role in decolonization, formation of new independent states, and democratization of international relations. NAM, although very weak now, still has 120 countries.
Global South has been more of a political and diplomatic slogan than what it means geographically. Likewise, the so-called G77 which now comprises 135 countries was formed to promote the collective economic interests of these countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping are seizing on the grouping as a potential diplomatic platform to counter American hegemony.
Another dimension of the North-South divide is the fact that the North, for its industries, is using fossil fuel, emitting carbon and destroying the habitat for all species. Thus, the industrialized North is making huge profit at the cost of the environment of the primary producer South causing diseases, loss of crops and whatnot by raising global warming. Complaints from the Global South that the North is not doing enough to cut emission and compensate for their loss, are legitimate.
Russia has been able to frame the narrative of war as defensive and preventive. They say, it was an existential threat for Russia— the war in Ukraine is rather an anticolonial fight against US and Western dominance in the international system
From among the members of BRICS, both India and China love to brand themselves to be Global South and are trying to lead Global South. China has emerged as a global superpower in terms of its tremendous economic strength, technology, high-class infrastructure etc. and is contesting the USA, but interestingly enough, as regards to Global South, China, instead of branding itself a developed country, rather includes itself to the developing world. To be the leader of Global South and raising its voice on behalf of Global South is the key intention here.
We already mentioned that China and India are vying for leadership in the Global South. After the Russian invasion in Ukraine a new dimension was added to the Global South. Russia is trying to consolidate its partnership with the Global South. Owing to the unprecedented western sanctions, Russia has tried hard to find new markets or expand existing markets especially for arms, oil and nuclear power plants, and it has been successful. An economic growth greater than IMF prediction gives testimony to it. Besides economic benefits, Russia wants to come close to the Global South ideologically. Russia has been able to frame the narrative of war as defensive and preventive. They say, it was an existential threat for Russia— the war in Ukraine is rather an anticolonial fight against US and Western dominance in the international system. As a result, formal colonies felt identical with this notion. For example, immediately after the invasion of Ukraine, Putin called for a conference of African nations and made a number of trade deals with them.
In the recent two wars of Israel’s incursion into Gaza and Russian invasion of Ukraine, Global South is playing a vital role. Voices from Global South are being raised high against Israel’s incursion, which is a big blow to the US hegemony while the USA vetoed ceasefire proposals in Gaza in the UN security council for the fourth time. In this case, Putin and Xi appeared as leaders while Western leaders and others from the Global North are not at all vocal in supporting the Palestinians. Putin has already called for a meeting of Arab leaders including Palestinians in Russia.
Putin has been able to bypass the unprecedented sanctions imposed by the Western countries by expanding its export to Global South countries, namely India, China, Africa, South America and West Asia. It means that most of the Global South is convinced by Putin's explanation that NATO's expansion in Ukraine is the root cause of his 'special operation' which triggered a war eventually.
* Dr. NN Tarun Chakravorty is a Visiting Professor of Economics at Siberian Federal University, Russia. Editor-At-Large, South Asia Journal. [email protected]