2b.

What do you consider to be the most important contributions of the Global

South to international relations in the post-decolonization era (i.e., since 1945)?
Why? In your answer, choose two of the Global South regions discussed in the
course (Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East).

Important contributions in the history of international relations in the Global South

during the post-decolonization era included the new international roles of China and

Middle East. International relations in the post-decolonization era have been introduced

by newer approaches such as liberalism and globalization theory. Globalization is

important for understanding international relations. The key point is that increasingly

political, economic, social, and cultural processes need to be understood on a global

level. Furthermore, states sought to protect and advance their national interest. At a

minimum national interest involved the protection of a states territorial integrity, but

broader strategic, economic, societal, and cultural dimensions were usually also involved.

A states ability to achieve its objectives was determined by its power, involving military,

economic, political, and other dimensions. The balance of power was the most important

feature in the functioning of international politics.

China is a significant example in its success in economic development to date. The

Peoples Republic of China (PRC) was proclaimed on 1 October 1949. China has an

authoritarian political system under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Zhangs (2016) key argument was the international behavior of states derived from the

anarchical character of international politics. As a result, China had to protect itself in a

situation where there was no overriding authority. And thus, balancing behavior was

crucial to achieve their security goals.

 The most important contribution is due to a globalized capitalist order made up of

flows, fluxes, networked connections and transnational production networks in the post-

decolonization era. Chinas contribution to international relations includes is turning from

an authoritarian and nationalistic state to an economic powerhouse in global politics. In

addition, this era is associated by a specific form of concentration of power rather than

just by the changing distribution of material power, which is reflected in the arrival of

China, a non-western power with self-proclaimed developing country identity and an

authoritarian regime, as the second among equals in the Great Power Club, arguably with

its own purpose and project.

The proliferation of post-colonial states has led to the globalization of a system of

juridical equal sovereign states. In the process, international society has become truly

global, with a more pluralistic standard based primarily on international legal sovereignty

and an emphasis on sovereign independence and equality. Like individuals in a domestic

society, states on the international stage should have legal equality before the law and

should enjoy the same rights to liberty and self-determination. Therefore, the most

important contribution of the Global South, particularly China, whose nation-state

building remains unfinished business and its constantly under challenge; it has

demonstrated safeguarding state sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and security as

one of the top priorities of the countrys grant strategy of peaceful rise. President Xi

Jinping stated that: As a nation-state, China must build up adequate self-defense

capability to safeguard its security and sovereignty. This is to prevent the recurrence of

the tragedy of China being enslaved and colonized by imperial powers after the Opium

War.
 Furthermore, another important contribution by China to international relations is that

they have embraced the UN as the only body that has the authority to legitimate

collective action to meet challenges and threats to international peace and security. In this

respect, China has emerged as one of the strongest defenders of a traditional and

absolutist concept of sovereignty, entering into contestation on a broad range of issues

wherein state sovereignty is implicated, most notably humanitarian intervention. The

acceptance of the universality of human rights is constitutionally expressed in the 2004

amendment to article 33 of the Chinese constitution, which asserts: The State respects

and preserves human rights. The Chinese government also began to issue a regular series

of white papers to elaborate its human rights policies and to defend its human rights

record. There is an appreciable move on the part of China from a cultural particularist

understanding of international human rights norms to a negotiated universalist position.

Chinas commitment to human rights and state sovereignty while under a communist

regime exemplifies a leading superpower and crucial to international relations.

The Middle East has also made important contributions to international relations in the

post-decolonization era. zalp (2011) notes the democratization from the US and Europe,

in addition, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks profoundly affected the international

system, such as they almost radically changed the terms and scope of the debate related to

the Middle East. Immediately after the terrorist attacks the terms like the Greater Middle

East, the Broader Middle East or the Islamic Greater Middle East entered into the

literature of the international relations as they are among the worlds most full of conflict

regions.
 In particular, Turkey has been praised as a model for the Central Asian countries after

the collapse of the Soviet Union and then for this purpose Turkey had made extensive

economic, political, cultural and diplomatic initiatives. Turkeys regional importance

grew even further especially after September 11. Americans began to support Turkey,

which has an Islamic socio-cultural structure and also successfully operates a democratic

political system together as a model country in the whole Islamic world with the Greater

Middle East Project. Turkey was the best model country for the entire Islamic world

especially for the effective Neocons in Bush Administration. The role and the pressure of

the United States played for Turkey to gain the status of EU candidate should be seen as a

decision having strategic importance in the context of long-term transformation of the

Middle East

The period of decolonization that followed WWII was characterized by the rise of an

Arab national movement. The creation of the Arab League in 1945 (formed with six

members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria) had significant

importance for the other Arab countries that were still colonized. It raised the awareness

of an Arab identity different from colonial identity, and constituted a forum to defend the

right to self-determination and mobilize political and logistical assistance to fighting

peoples.

Furthermore, the events of 2001 in the US led to a further, and pervasive, alienation

between the Arab-Muslim world and the West in particular. The post-September 11

period has witnessed political and military interference by the US in the region on a

massive scale. The democratization of Middle East is driven by a desire to reshape the
politics according to US interests, has not only brought violent regime change, but also

had repercussions for the intervening state of what Paul Kennedy characterized the

phenomenon of imperial overreach. Thus, the Global North intervention in the region has

effectively triggered a further revival of political Islam and a long civil war between

terrorist groups and the West.

3. Many issues on the contemporary international agenda involve differences or
disagreement between the Global South and Global North. In your answer identify
two important sources or areas of such disagreement, and discuss the key issues of
debate and prospects for resolution. Provide appropriate examples to support your
arguments.

Differences between the Global North and Global South are a social, economic, and

political gap between the highly developed nations and the rest of the world. Their

geographic locations of nations are broadly identified with levels of industrialization,

economic progress, science and technology, standards of living and political-economic

power in the global arena. The Global North has had a long history of exploiting the

benefits of an inequitable exchange of commodities with the Global South. Most

Southern countries were under colonial rule when the Global North created the legal

architecture for contemporary globalization. This legal framework enabled the North to

fuel its economic expansion through the continued exploitation of the Souths natural

resources, trapping Southern countries in vicious cycles of poverty and environmental

degradation and widening the North-South economic divide.

The most important source of divide between the North and the South is economic

development, the advancements of global capitalism through economic and financial

globalization, and the adoption of capitalism in part or full by almost all nations. Porter

and Sheppard (1998) contends that free trade has led to economic development, which is

one of the most important source polarizing between the Global South and Global North.

Moreover, the gap between wealthy and poor nations is associated through the transfer of

capital, technology and know-how to build modern systems and institutions for material

advancement. With increased expansions of Transnational Corporation (TNCs) activities

in poor countries have led to an increase in wars, social/ethnic conflicts and decreased
democratic and political space for many. Contemporary economic relationships are

mediated through capitalist free trade and investment agreements in which, the benefits

sought by TNCs bear a striking resemblance to colonial arrangements of resource

extraction and profit repatriation.

Because of development, this has created wealth concentration in one class or country

at the expense of other classes and countries. For example, in many Asian countries and

globally, we are witnessing a net transfer of wealth, public assets and control over natural

resources to already wealthy elites, upper classes and private corporations through a

variety of legal mechanisms and illegal practices. Another prominent contemporary

example is natural resource conflict in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic

of the Congo, where various armies, rebel groups, and outside actors (mostly

corporations of the Global North) have profited from mining while contributing to

violence and exploitation during wars in the region as a result of economic development.

Thus, it is crucial to create resolutions such as just redistributive measures to prevent

poverty. Those most negatively affected by the above are workers and indigenous people

in both rural and urban areas.

Another area of disagreement is the negotiations over climate change. Negotiations to

collectively address climate change have been riddled with conflict between the nations

of the Global South and North sine the inception of the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change in 1992. Since 1992, member countries of the United

Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have acknowledged the different

capabilities and differing responsibilities of individual counties in addressing climate

change through the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and

Respective Capabilities (CBDR). The reasoning is that developed countries the North -

have a far greater share of GHG emissions than developing countries the South

because of higher levels of fossil fuel extraction and consumption, industrialization and

natural resource exploitation over a far longer period of time. Compounding the problem,

the Global South is not financially to adapt to the changing climate. Therefore, the North

and South distinguish two very different experiences and positions regarding global

climate change. In the global negotiations, heavily industrialized nations of the Global

North have emphasized the common responsibilities of nations while developing nations

have tended to place more emphasis on the differentiated responsibilities.

The environmental priorities of certain Southern states, such as India and China, often

diverge from those of more ecologically vulnerable nations, such as the small island

states like the Philippines and Vietnam. Chinas rise can produce strategic alliances that

enhance the bargaining power of the South or, conversely, alliances that marginalize

vulnerable states, such as the small island states and least developed countries. Similarly,

the European Union and the United States have frequently clashed over environmental

policy, most notably over the regulation of genetically modified organisms and toxic

chemicals and over efforts to address climate change.

For example, in global climate negotiations, many Asian governments demand

greater and binding commitment for emissions cuts from developed countries on the basis

of the CBDR principle. They claim a right to development, to extract and use fossil fuels

as needed, which would increase GHG emissions. As a result, plantation and mine

workers in Asian factories are exploited and marginalized. Furthermore, rural and urban

communities in Asia have been long struggling against a development paradigm that is
extractive, polluting, destructive and unjust, that breeds poverty and inequality, displaces

peoples and fracture societies. It serves largely elite and corporate interests, entrenching

massive disparities in living standards and environments, consumption, and access to

essential goods and services (for example, food, health, water, housing, education and

energy) between the poor and working classes, and the rich. The huge disparities in

consumption, quality of life and environments between the poor and upper classes within

counties are equally evident between many North and South countries, at both individual

and societal levels.

The division between the Global North and Global South is the greatest challenge to

global governance. The contrast in economic welfare, political stability, and culture

among states creates many dilemmas for the international community. The economic

differences between highly developed economies and the rest of the world deters

cooperation. However, international leaders can solve these issues by promoting global

equity. In order for global governance to achieve its fullest potential, the world must first

address the inequality of states. Furthermore, resolutions should include the recognition

of inequalities and injustices between the Global North and Global South. The Global

South need to recognize and act on their responsibilities to limit GHG emissions and

identify pathways for alternative development approaches that are based on clean energy,

protection of natural wealth, public transport, etc. In addition, developed countries must

acknowledge their historical roles in bringing about the climate crisis, which enabled

them to build strong public sectors, infrastructure and scientific knowledge. There should

also be a need to address historical inequities and inadequacies in the international

environmental law regime in order to improve its effectiveness and to reduce the gap

between the Global North and the Global South.

Bibliography

Y. Zhang, China and Liberal Hierarchies in Global International Society: Power and
Negotiation for Normative Change. International Affairs, 92, (2016) 795816.

zalp, O. N. (2011). Where is the Middle East? The Definition and Classification
Problem of the Middle East as a Regional Subsystem in International Relations. Turkish
Journal of Politics, 2(2).

P. W. Porter and E. S. Sheppard, A World of Difference: Society, Nature, Development.

(New York: Guilford Press, 1998). Chapter 5 Views from the Core: Propagating
Development.
R. Jackson, Quasi-states:Sovereignty International Relations and the Third
World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Introduction, chp. 1 and 2.
A. Anghie, Finding the Peripheries: Sovereignty and Colonialism in Nineteenth
Century International Law." Harvard International Law Journal, 40 (1999):1-81.
P. Newell, Race, Class and the Global Politics of Environmental Inequality. Global
Environmental Politics, 5, 3 (2005) 70-94.
J. Rajeswar, Population Perspectives and Sustainable Development. Sustainable
Development, 8 (2000) 135141.
I. Anguelovski & J.M. Alier, The Environmentalism of the Poor Revisited: Territory &
Place in Disconnected Glocal Struggles, Ecological Economics, 102 (2014) 167-176.
M. Duffield (2006) Racism, Migration and Development: The Foundations of Planetary
Order Progress in Development Studies, 6 (2006) 68-79.
Ziya ni Turkey and the Arab Revolutions: Boundaries of Regional Power Influence in
a Turbulent Middle East. Mediterranean Politics 19, 2 (2014).
J. C. Antnez & I. Tellidis, The Power of Words: The Deficient Terminology
Surrounding Islam-related Terrorism. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 6, 1 (2013) 118-
139.