Global South Agency in International Politics

This book advances the discourse that demands the discipline of International Relations (IR) pay equal attention to the agency of great and small powers in world politics. The volume contributes to the growing debate of de-centering the discipline of IR, which has been dominated by political philosophies such as realism and liberalism, and later constructivism that structured the research agenda of international studies for decades. The essays in the volume challenge the notion of center and periphery – a deliberate attempt to end the marginalization of the Global South in the study and practice of international politics. Drawing on a variety of postcolonial approaches, they highlight the agency of Southern actors in different areas of global politics. The book departs from the theoretical and analytical discourse that focuses on how external actors determine Global South realities and instead focuses on how Global South states, civil organizations, leaders, and diplomats/bureaucrats have been progressively influential in world negotiations over climate change, world trade, global security, and intervention norms.

The volume brings perspectives on Global South agency from scholars in various parts of the world, thus contributing to the fight against the marginalization of Southern voices in the study of international interactions. The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Global South studies, international relations and global politics.