Heine Discusses the Global South’s New Foreign Policy
On June 16, 2023, Ambassador Jorge Heine, Research Professor at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, wrote an article for The Conversation, “The Global South is Forging a New Foreign Policy in the Face of War in Ukraine, China-US Tensions: Active Nonalignment.”
Throughout the Ukrainian War, many countries have remained neutral in an act of what Professor Heine has dubbed “active nonalignment.”
Throughout the Ukrainian War, many countries have taken sides while others chose to remain neutral in an act of what Ambassador Heine has dubbed “active nonalignment.” Among these neutral countries is Brazil. This new “nonalignment” is happening in an era in which developing nations are in a stronger position than they once were, with rising powers emerging among them. This gives active nonaligned nations more international clout. Since President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has taken office six months ago, he has used Brazil’s nonalignment to meet with an array of parties including U.S. President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Ambassador Heine, “the growth of active nonalignment has been fueled by the increased competition and what I see as a budding second Cold War between the United States and China.” Active nonalignment is not neutrality, and it is not about remaining equidistant, politically, from the great powers.
Read the full article here.
Ambassador Jorge Heine is a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He has served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007), and to South Africa (1994-1999), and as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government. Read more about Ambassador Heine on his Pardee School faculty profile.