Conference Program

This article aims to decode the conundrum of the regional power of the Global South toward regional and global order. On the one hand, they want to foster regional stability and development. They also aspire to expand their stake in the global order to give emerging countries a stronger voice. The regional power’s dilemma about the regional and global order is based on the three preliminary assumptions. First, Regional powers may be hesitant to accept global reforms that threaten their regional influence. Second, Global powers may attempt to use regional authorities to advance their objectives, even if those ambitions do not serve the region's best interests. Third, regional powers may struggle to strike a balance between their regional interests and the need to foster global order. To assess the above-mentioned three assumptions the paper investigates the approach of India and Indonesia in the regional and global order. There are two main research questions that this paper aims to answer; 1. What are the main regional and global dilemmas that the rising powers of Global South? 2. How rising power of the Global South such as India and Indonesia strike a balance between the Global and Regional order?

The main aim of the paper is to reconstruct the evolution of the academic debate of ‘area studies’ in international relations regarding the rising powers of the global South. The paper will demonstrate the relevance of major international relations theory in explaining the rise of the global southern powers. Area studies in social sciences has been a contested subject of studies due to its usage in various disciplines. Thus, the main research question that the paper aims to answer is; Why does this subject of the rising power of the global south constitute area studies as a sub-discipline of international relations? The central assumption of the paper is that only using the major theories of international relations helps us to explain the rise of the powers from the global South. These facts legitimize area studies as a sub-discipline of IR.

The section aims to analyze the cause and consequences for the international system due to the growing differences between Global North Powers and rising global South powers. The following questions are no doubt important; first, What were the sources of power shift if favor of Global South powers after the Cold War?, second, How did Global South power define their national interest and international structure?, third, What are the consequences of growing multilateralism for the shape and future of International Liberal Order?

As delineated above the research problem can be analyzed from three theoretical perspectives. First, is realism in terms such concepts as balancing, alliance formation, and hedging. Second, neo-liberalism institutionalism helps to explain the attitude of Global South Powers toward the existing international order established by the Western institutions. And third, the Civilization clash, hypothesis of Samuel P. Huntington, which is a useful analytical instrument to understand the debate on Western and non-Western values.

The polarity of the international system, being an element of the analysis of its structure, is a permanent element of the analysis of international relations. This is confirmed by neorealism, but also by earlier and later disputes (K. N. Waltz 1964; K. W. Deutch, D.J. Singer 1964; R. Rosecrance 1966; M. Midlarski, T. Hopf 1993; W. Wohlforth 1999; R. Haass 2008; B. Posen 2009 ). It was analyzed primarily from a static perspective, from the perspective of the structure of concentration of relative power and in connection with the stability of the international system.

Recognizing that one of the key elements of changing the current international system is the "rise of the rest of the world", identified mainly with the Global South, and the complexity of the phenomenon of power and its measurement, the paper proposes a dynamic, functional approach to polarity. The importance of relative power is not denied, but it is proposed to focus on the strategy of its use and on the strategic culture of states. The aim of the paper - while reflecting the structure of its content - is: firstly, to reconstruct the academic discourse on polarity and to propose its dynamic, functional and two-level analysis. Two-level analysis means taking into account the level of global powers and the level of autonomous regional powers in the international system. Secondly, an attempt to reconstruct the specificity of the geopolitical strategy of the Global South against the background of the United States, Russia and China.

The Global South, a term used to describe countries that are less developed or emerging economies compared to the Global North (Western countries led by the U.S.), is often seen as a unified entity in international relations. It denotes unity of purpose, a shared worldview, and an alternative to the present rules-based order sometimes called a Liberal International Order (LIO). This paper will critically examine the concept of the Global South and explore why its current structure and characteristics limit its ability to support a LIO. This paper argues that the developed countries of the so-called West should self-strengthen their own economic, political, diplomatic, and security pillars to outcompete authoritarian states such as China, Russia, and Iran and non-state actors that are interested in revising the current rule-based order, seemingly in consideration of the needs of the developing world.