Heine Unpacks Key Ideas Behind New Book with The Democracy Forum
Ambassador Jorge Heine, former Research Professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Chilean Ambassador to China, was interviewed by Humphrey Hawksley of The Democracy Forum to dive into his recent publication, The Non-Aligned World: Striking Out in an Era of Great Power Competition, co-authored with Carlos Fortin and Carlos Ominami. Click here to watch the full interivew.
Heine and his collaborators argue for the use of Active Non-Alignment as the foreign policy for the Global South, pertaining to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He defines the policy as “putting these countries interests at the front-and-center, and not give into demands from Washington or Beijing.” Due to the current competition between the United States and China, Heine encourages these countries to “play the field” and decide the many outcomes of each opportunity as they present themselves. In the interview, he recalled Latin America’s use of Active Non-Alignment in 2020, which protected their economic and military resources as they struggled with recession, damaging policies from President Trump, and the Covid pandemic. Due to its success, this policy has since spread to countries in Africa and Asia.
Heine goes on to say,
This is the time of the Global South, which has emerged with great force. We’re seeing it today, which are the countries President Trump has targeted for the highest tariffs in the world. It’s not a coincidence, it means that this North-South division has become, perhaps, the most significant division in today’s world. Accordingly, for these countries, it is Active Non-Alignment that’s the foreign policy of choice.
Although the Active Non-Alignment movement showed up in the 19050s and 60s during the Cold War, the difference is that the Soviet Union had a smaller economy than the United States’, and therefore could not compete for power even if they were considered a military and nuclear superpower. In contrast, the Chinese economy is already larger than the U.S’s, making it able to economically compete, which allows for countries in Asia, Africa, and Latina America to play these powers against each other for their individual benefit.
A former research professor at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, Ambassador Jorge Heine is a diplomat, international relations scholar, and lawyer. He served as ambassador of Chile to China (2014-2017), to India (2003-2007) and to South Africa (1994-1999), as a Cabinet Minister in the Chilean Government, and as a past Vice President of the International Political Science Association (IPSA). He has published fifteen books, including 21st Century Democracy Promotion in the Americas; and the Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy (with A. Cooper and R. Thakur, Oxford University Press, 2013,2015). He received his PhD from Stanford University.