When we look at the position of the BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, on a world map, the three countries under the Tropic of Cancer are Brazil, India and South Africa. The two countries below the equatorial line are Brazil and South Africa. When we look at the current agenda of the global economic-political system, we see that the agenda in question is mainly determined by the Atlantic, Eurasian and Asia-Pacific countries that are above the Tropic of Cancer.
Despite the intense and heavy agenda of 2022, Indonesia's successful G-20 term presidency and the fact that another powerful country such as India has assumed the term presidency in 2023, created an important opportunity for the voice of the “global south” to rise and conjoin its agenda with the global economic-political system.
In fact, the global south can be summarized as a higher approach or a higher understanding of the Non-Aligned Movement, which was formed by over 100 countries with the leadership of Yugoslavia in 1961, almost adapted to the basic realities of the 21st century. The risk of a second “Cold War” triggered by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, which will end its first year, is a term that describes the anxiety about the beginning of a period of conflict between the Atlantic Alliance countries remaining over the Tropic of Cancer and the Russian Federation, once the leader of the Iron Curtain countries.
However, there is also a significant group of countries with different agendas, expectations, hopes and global goals than the countries that are in the Tropic of Cancer, or the “Global North.”
In particular, the rising continents of the 21st century, African countries and a very important part of Asia, Australia and New Zealand, demand the ongoing unbalanced and unequal global political and financial system to be redefined and reshaped to meet the expectations of the Global South, especially the emerging economies of the Global South. They demand the world value their priorities and want their agenda to be more pronounced regarding the global political economy.
Türkiye is a Global North country that can best understand the expectations of the Global South. Just as Türkiye acts as the most effective bridge between the West and the East, it is the playmaker country of Eurasia. The country is also a strong actor that can bring the expectations of the Global South to the world agenda.
Developing countries represented by the concept of the Global South want the climate crisis and debt crisis caused by today's understanding of globalization, which I described as "Globalization 2.0" in my previous articles, to end as soon as possible. For this reason, they have to take an active role like never before in the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank; on the other side, in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in order to eliminate the global climate crisis caused by fossil fuel-based development, the basis of the second and third Industrial Revolutions, and global debt crisis caused by the Bretton Woods Model, must come up with new approaches, policies and solutions that meet the expectations of the Global South. For this reason, the Global South wants to be heard on its more inclusive, more embracing solutions and steps related to the G-20 agenda. In the coming period, Türkiye will continue to be the country with which they can cooperate most intensively and receive the most meaningful support.
