The Rise of a “Southern Gaze”: Global Power Shifts and Hierarchies in the International System

The international system is characterized by an unequal distribution of power. On many occasions, this inequality has been reflected in treaties, which grant different rights and obligations to certain countries. In this paper, we explore how such hierarchies change in light of the rise of Global South countries. To do so, we examine how shifts in power within the international system over the past 20 years have influenced the binary developing/developed country classification. Based on qualitative analysis of selected international organizations in the fields of trade, finance, and climate, we identify three main findings. First, a nascent “Southern Gaze,” where “developing” countries assess whether other countries are “developing” (or not). As a result, emerging contestation and competition within the “South” are shaping the contours of an increasingly fragmented global order. Second, we note the resilience of the development-based labels across the institutions analysed. Third, an increasing preference for less technocratic, more flexible approaches to classification emerges, most notably in newly established “developing” country-led International Organizations (IOs). Taken together, we find that the use of the developed/developing country classification and related hierarchies has become more fragmented. The growing influence of a “Southern gaze” comes with the resiliency of the “developing” label in tandem with a “complexification” of the “developed/developing” country binary. These findings speak to broader debates on the changing contours of a more polycentric global governance system and highlight the multiple sites of contestation that emerge—including within “developing” country-led IOs.