European Universalism and the Rise of New Powers: The Chinese-Brazilian Relation as a Case Example of Contemporary South-South Cooperation (subproject)

The economic and political rise of emerging countries in the global South has brought about far reaching changes of global structures. Spokesmen of the South increasingly insist on their right to independent and self-directed development within their national borders and to an equal voice in international affairs. At least since the global economic and financial crisis of 2008/09 it has become apparent that the USA and the EU can no longer shape the global order alone.

However, this increasing independence as well as the growing influence of the South occur within a preexisting epistemic order. Therefore, the question has to be asked, whether to overcome the Eurocentric global order, it is enough that the Western industrial states have lost their leading position in certain economically relevant issue areas. What does it mean for the globalization of the 21st century that national economic models in the South diverge from that of the North?

The criticism of a hegemonic behavior of the North that has been voiced by spokesmen of the South raises the question of whether the rise of and the cooperation within the South actually indicates a qualitatively different globalization, as the often used rhetoric of “South-South cooperation” implies, or whether it merely indicates a shift of power within the given global order. How does the rise of the South affect the geopolitical hegemony of the North and how does it affect its epistemic hegemony. This project follows these questions, taking a closer analytical look at the case examples of China and Brazil – the economically strongest of the emerging powers.

It is the aim of this project to contribute to the understanding of changes in the global power structure. The focus lies on the connection of economic power, political power and the scientific power of interpretation. It identifies development paths and corresponding structures of international cooperation that are different from European and North American models and examines the anti-hegemonic potential inherent in these alternative models. This includes looking at the relation between ideology and pragmatism of new international constellations. First and foremost, however, this project wants to analyze to what extent the increase of cooperation in the South is connected to a rejection of Western categories of thought.

Doctoral thesis of Christian Ersche is published. More Information