How Can the Global South Navigate Geopolitical Rivalry and Geoeconomic Fragmentation?

Heightened geopolitical rivalry has greatly complicated the challenges facing the Global South. Countries identifying with the Global South now have to deal with the long-standing problem of promoting changes in the current international political and economic system to better serve their development needs, while navigating the geopolitically driven fragmentation of trade and investment flows. Moreover, the strategic approaches that could be adopted to deal with those challenges are influenced by the vague definition of the ‘Global South’ itself. Further complicating the picture is the fact that China and Russia have played very ambiguous roles—siding with developing countries in the desire for change, but representing one side of the geopolitical competition for global influence. Against the backdrop of an ill-defined Global South, developing countries need to examine the various approaches pursued by major countries. This can inform their efforts to calibrate an appropriate strategy for themselves, depending on their specific circumstances.