FROM October 22-24, 36 countries, mainly from the global South, attended the 16th summit of the Brics countries. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres also joined this meeting. As Chinese President Xi Jinping stated, the summit aimed “to create new opportunities for the global South.”

Changed balance of power

Since World War II, former colonised nations have made various attempts to establish a more equitable world order. In the 1970s, there was an attempt to create a New International Economic Order. However, these and other efforts failed due to internal divisions and, more importantly, because the geopolitical balance of power was very unfavourable. The North held various economic and diplomatic levers to keep nations in check, and when those were insufficient, the US relied on military force.