This three-session Study Group, led by Belfer Center Visiting Scholar, Oliver Stuenkel, an Associate Professor at the Fundação Getulio Vargas in Brazil, examines the evolving role of the Global South in an increasingly multipolar world shaped by great power competition between the United States and China.
This study group will analyze how countries such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa view current geopolitical trends and craft their foreign policy strategies. These range from fence-sitting and hedging to diversifying partnerships, seeking reforms in existing institutions, and creating alternative structures such as the BRICS grouping. By exploring a number of case studies, including the Global South’s reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Trump’s return to the White House, this study group will assess how non-Western powers position themselves and what this means for US foreign policy.
Participation is for Harvard University graduate students only.
The study group will meet on February 11, February 18, and February 25th from 5:00 – 6:00 PM in the Belfer Center Library (L369).
Participant applications are required, and submission of interest does not mean you have been accepted to participate. Please submit applications by February 2nd at 11:59 PM. If selected, you are required to attend all three sessions.
