Reference News Network, December 29 report: On December 24, the Russian Valdai Club website published an article titled "From Multipolarity to Mutual Responsibility: The Reshaping of the Global South in the New World Order," authored by Atiya Ali Kazmi, Chairman of the Pakistan Forum for Global Peace Strategies. Excerpts are as follows:

The world is at a critical moment, with power dispersing faster than norms are being formed. The unipolarity that defined the post-Cold War era is giving way to an increasingly multipolar order, a dynamic balance of intersecting sovereignty and competing governance logics. The Global South, which holds an increasing share of the global economy, is at the center of this transition.

The basis of geopolitical change lies in long-standing disparities; inequality between the North and the South has surpassed all ideological systems. Economic gaps have deepened digital divides: 2 billion people still lack internet access, excluded from the infrastructure of 21st-century citizenship.

This is not just a difference in economic terms, but also in cognitive terms: an invisible deprivation of rights that determines whose visions will hold voice in the global political system. The UN's 2025 World Social Report warns that this disparity enhances insecurity and distrust, undermining confidence in multilateralism. If left unaddressed, multipolarity could lead to fragmentation and chaos.

A series of recent forums have provided insights on how to make such corrections. At the Boao Forum for Asia 2025 Annual Meeting, leaders of Global South countries stated that the right to development is not a privilege, but a prerequisite for a legitimate world economy.

The Valdai Club meeting held this year in Sochi also embraced this spirit, with representatives from the Global South talking not about charity, but about autonomy, moving from debt dependency to sovereign innovation.

At the Valdai Club meeting, several participants proposed the concept of modular multilateralism, a multi-layered partnership system based on functions rather than hierarchical principles. This model allows developing countries to unite on specific issues such as food security, digital ethics, and disaster resilience without waiting for bureaucratic decisions.

If the multipolar world merely replicates old monopolies under new names, it would amount to a repetition of inequality.

Perhaps nowhere is the North-South asymmetry more evident than in the field of new technologies. Artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and biotechnology are reshaping power structures at a pace that surpasses diplomatic responses. Without structural investment in human capital and self-research and development, countries in the Global South may become digital colonies, consumers of other countries' digital products.

At the Valdai Club conference on technological sovereignty, experts warned that reliance on imported algorithms could be more effective than traditional sanctions. Our task is not only to catch up, but to establish a moral framework that ensures human control, transparency, and fair distribution.

The 2025 Beijing Xiangshan Forum also sent such a signal. The forum linked AI management with equitable development. Participants believed that the future world order depends less on who controls data than on how data serves humanity.

Traditional terms like containment and defense are being replaced by broader concepts of stability. Today, climate vulnerability, cyber threats, and food shortages are as real a threat as military coercion.

In recent years, the intellectual capital of the Global South has awakened. From Baku to Jakarta, from Brasilia to Pretoria, from Islamabad to Beijing and Moscow, these countries' think tanks no longer content themselves with serving as indicators in Western analyses, but are committed to becoming creators of new norms. The Global South needs a voice. Its core demands are both spiritual and material: peace cannot be guaranteed by a few on behalf of the many, and sovereignty should be achieved through responsibility, not isolation.

So what needs to be done? There are mainly three directions:

First, institutional fairness. Reforms of global financial, trade, and technology institutions should be based on representation, not just participation. Having a voice without a vote only perpetuates dependence.

Second, knowledge fairness. Intellectual monopolies should give way to diverse thinking through open-access channels, multilingual research platforms, and a Global South think tank alliance.

Third, ethical governance. Artificial intelligence, climate engineering, and biotechnology require moral agreements as effective as legal ones. The Global South countries should play a leading role in this area, proposing inclusive standards based on the principle of a community with a shared future for mankind. (Translated by He Yingjun)

Original: toutiao.com/article/7589222869842788890/

Statement: The article represents the views of the author alone.