The Rise of the Global South and Active Non-Alignment

Abstract: The past few years, especially from 2022 onwards, have seen the rise of the Global South as a force to be reckoned with in world affairs. Spurred by events such as the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza and BRICS expansion, countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have reasserted their demands for a place at the high table of global governance. Hand in hand with this phenomenon, we have also witnessed the return of non-alignment as foreign policy of choice among many of these nations, albeit in a new incarnation, this time as Active Non-Alignment (ANA). The purpose of this article is to examine the origins, evolution, and main features of ANA, with a special emphasis on its international political economy dimension. The first section looks at the roots of the current crisis of the global order; the second looks at the shift from a hyper-globalized world economy driven largely by market forces and transnational companies to one in which the role of the nation-state takes once again center stage and geopolitics displaces commercial considerations as the main force; the third section sketches out the rise of the Global South and the fourth one describes what ANA is all about.