Can the global South take over the baton? What cosmopolitanism in ‘unlikely’ places means for future world order

Abstract

As the West’s centrality fades, the global South may have a decisive influence in shaping future world order. Will that future see a retreat from globalisation to hard-edged particularisms? Or will the emerging post-Westphalian global society let the global South take over the baton of cosmopolitan institution building in its own way? This article draws on a multi-country survey of educated youth to find promising signs of imagined common ground with other countries. It suggests the flavours of cosmopolitan integration that the global South is likely to support in coming decades.

Keywords:

• Global South
• global governance
• youth opinion
• Peru
• Kenya
• Pakistan
• migration
• world order

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank multiple contributors for their efforts facilitating the execution of this survey project on the ground: Sergio Canchari, Catalina Romero, and David Sulmont in Peru; Basharat Mughal, Charles Ramsey, Sanee Sajjad, and Saeed Shafqat in Pakistan; Samuel Kiiru and Samuel Balongo in Kenya; as well as the many members of the survey and data entry teams in all three countries. He also wishes to thank Ayumi Nagase of the University of California, Berkeley, for her work on statistical analysis, and Di Hu for comments on earlier drafts of the article.

Notes

*. The underlying data for this article are available on request.

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