Can the Global South Change the (neo-liberal) World Order?

Isaac Bazié Announcement
Subject Fields
Political Science, Social Sciences, World History / Studies, Nationalism History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies

CALL FOR PAPERS

TITLE: Can the Global South Change the (neo-liberal) World Order?

EDITORS:

Dr Annamaria Artner, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies Institute of World Economics, Milton Friedman University, Budapest, Hungary

Dr Isaac Bazié, Département d’études littéraires, Laboratoire des Afriques Innovantes, Université du Québec à Montréal

Dr Yin Zhiguang, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University

 

Contributors are invited to reflect on one or more of the following questions:

  • What does define the Global South? – Similarities overarching differences and their implications on the revolutionary potentials of the GS.
  • Potentials of the Global South from the viewpoint of revolutionary changes. Peoples, cultures, narratives, concepts, organizations, institutions, movements etc. in the society and economy that are specific to the Global South.
  • Deconstructing the “no alternative” narrative: Global North and Global South perspectives. The Global North perspective suggests that there is no alternative for neoliberalism. What are the effects of this hegemonic narrative in the Global South? How does it impact mindsets, politics, South-North and South-South dynamics and how can it be counterbalanced and overcome?
  • Envisioning a New World Order: projections, dynamics, players from the Global South.
  • Envisioning a post-capitalist society built in the Global South.
  • Bringing back socialism: challenges, conditions, difficulties and benefits.

 

CONCEPT

The Global South consists of many different countries. However, the differences are dwarfed by the common colonial past, and the similarity of the peripheral position in the capitalist world order. As the socialist experiments of the Global North and its semi-periphery have failed, and because the Global South, particularly China but also Africa, have grown faster than the Global North, and particularly because the latter has proved to be uncapable for managing economic, political, environmental or health crises successfully, the historical task of changing the world has been left to the Global South.

Neither poverty, nor environment and climate related issues have been successfully cured within the framework of the profit motivated social order. The governments of the Global North could manage the 2008 financial and economic crisis only with enormous financial injections in the private companies while applying anti-population austerity policies to cover the costs of their profit-feeding policies. Pursuing their own geopolitical interests, the ruling classes of the Global North have mostly been able to generate and escalate rather than solve international conflicts both in the ex-Second World in Europe (Eastern Europe) and in the three continents of the Global South (Asia, Africa, Latin-America). The COVID-19 pandemic has proved that the Global North not only has failed to solve socio-economic and environmental crises globally but has also been unable to adequately manage a health-related crisis within its own nations.

The series of failures should inspire the people and the governments of the Global South to reevaluate their own roles in the future of the global world order.

The great differences between countries’ handling of the pandemic and their effects on people have called for fundamental changes in the status quo of the global power relations, forcing the different political and economic systems to prove their efficiency and mobilized the potential of creativity and innovation both on national and global scales.

At the same time this pandemic has reinforced the hierarchic structure of the world order and the demarcation line between the global poles of power. The Global North has apparently used its influence in the international institutions to defend its ruling position. (For example, the WHO has been insistently mandated by the USA and Europe to reinvestigate the vaccine production in China while they refused to follow WHO’s approbation of the vaccine produced in India.)

The aim of this book is to look beyond the present neoliberal world order by reevaluating its results and presenting the alternatives that have been or could be hammered out based on potentials from the Global South. It doesn’t matter, whether these alternatives have become more visible in the context of the current crisis or not, whether they are real and already implemented, or potential and visionary. The contributions gathered in the volume will offer a panorama of real or potential alternatives in the Global South to the neoliberal order at a political, environmental, cultural, and economic level. They have one question in common: Can the Global South Change the (neo-liberal) World Order? What are the revolutionary potentials of the Glob al South?

The book will likely have three parts dealing with the socio-economic, political, and cultural movements on local, national, and international levels in the Global South.

Part I critically considers, on the one hand, the theoretical and ideological lens through which development and its derivations (economic growth and social prosperity, welfare, and happiness, etc.) are theorized, legitimized, and established as valuable global ideals from a neo-liberalist perspective. On the other hand, this part of the book presents a critical review of the heritage of historical moments and achievements of the Global South (i.e. Bandung Spirit, the Non-Aligned Movement, G77 etc.) as well as their contemporary adaptations. That shouldn’t lead to unproductive diagnosis on the past. Instead, the goal is to seek for alternatives to the neo-liberal order, by putting those concepts, models, and imaginaries in the spotlight that increase South-South interaction, reveal global impacts and local inspiring trends produced by the South.

 

Part II gathers essays on the environmental issues in the Global South, particularly climate activism and its connections to socio-political struggles or socio-economic development. The main questions in this part of the volume are about the manifestations of environmental crises or challenges and the initiatives aiming to tackle them. Case studies will provide accurate insights in the complexity of the solutions and prospects from a Global South perspective.

 

Part III discusses the fights for political influence and socio-economic development on local, national, and global levels. Case studies about countries or regions of the Global South (Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc.). The observed initiatives and ground trends reveal various development dynamics and their results and perspectives for the future.

 

TO THE AUTHORS

The authors are asked to use a concise and clear language that is understandable for the non-academic readers as well. Explanations and further information in footnotes are welcome.

The manuscripts should be about 7,000 to 8,000 words long. References in footnotes.

 

 

Submission of abstracts: 15 February 2022 – E-mail: bazie.isaac@uqam.ca

*Authors of accepted submissions will be invited to an online workshop.

Submission of manuscripts: May 31st 2022

Publication: Fall 2022

Launching event: End 2022

 

Contact Information

Isaac BAZIÉ

Professeur titulaire, Département d'études littéraires

Directeur, Laboratoire des Afriques Innovantes (LAFI) – https://lafi.uqam.ca

Directeur/Chief Editor, Revue Afroglobe. Penser l’Afrique, dans une perspective locale et globale. / Journal Afroglobe. African Issues, in local and global Perspectives.

Président / President, Association Canadienne d’Études Africaines (ACÉA) / Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) – https://caas-acea.org/fr

Contact Email
bazie.isaac@uqam.ca