The Global South is a geopolitical and economic concept that broadly groups together countries with shared experiences of colonialism, economic dependency, and developmental challenges, often characterized by lower incomes and less advanced industrialization. It is not a strictly geographical term, as it includes countries in the Northern Hemisphere like India and China, and excludes geographically southern nations like Australia and New Zealand.
The term was first used in 1969 by political activist Carl Oglesby in the Catholic journal Commonweal, where he wrote about the "North's dominance over the global south". It gained prominence as a less pejorative alternative to the Cold War-era term "Third World," which was coined in 1952 by French demographer Alfred Sauvy to describe non-aligned nations outside the US-led "First World" and the Soviet-led "Second World". The concept was further popularized by the 1980 Brandt Report, which drew a line—the Brandt Line—to distinguish the wealthy, industrialized North from the poorer South.
The primary mechanism of the Global South is South-South cooperation (SSC), which is a political and economic framework for countries to assist each other in development, guided by principles like respect for national sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs. This cooperation aims to challenge the political and economic dominance of the North and reform unequal structures of the global economy. The concept connects directly to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which was established in 1961, and the Group of 77 (G77), a coalition of developing countries formed in 1964 to advocate for their collective economic interests at the UN. The G77 now has 134 member countries that regularly refer to themselves as the Global South.
The concept has recently changed, experiencing a resurgence in the past four years as a political call to address shared concerns. The current phase, sometimes termed "Global South 2.0," is marked by a more confident and strategically autonomous approach, moving away from the passive setting of the past. This is evident in platforms like the expanded BRICS group and India's hosting of two Voice of Global South summits in 2023, which brought together over 100 countries. While the historical grievances against Western-dominated systems remain, the idea of a unified bloc is fragmenting due to deep differences in economic models and strategic rivalry, particularly between India and China.