The Global South beyond cultural diversity. The discourse of exclusion in language textbooks

The aim of the article is to present the results of the analysis of the contents related to the Global South in language textbooks, which, due to the cultural aspects of teaching a foreign language, are of particular importance in intercultural education. The method of content analysis was used in the study, with inductive and deductive data coding in the Atlas.ti 7 program. The results show the ways of discursive exclusion of the Global South, characterized by one-sidedness and Eurocentrism noticeable in textbooks images of this world region. The collected data made it possible to distinguish such elements of the discourse of exclusion as victimization (linking the image of the Global South with various problems), exoticization (descriptions of the Global South in the context of traditional rituals or the richness of nature) and incapacitation (absence of representatives of the Global South in the texts or presenting them as passive beneficiaries of external aid). Despite the potential of shaping intercultural competences that language education brings, in the aspect of the Global South, it seems necessary to modify the content of textbooks in the direction of diversity, equal treatment of cultures, getting rid of the sense of superiority and ethnocentric attitudes.0

The Indian Film Industry is second popular entertainment industry across the globe after Hollywood film industry of the United States of America. Despite of being popular, there are arguments that New Delhi hasn’t utilized the full potential of Indian film industry as an instrument to turn popularity into the (Soft)power. The Indian film industry has tremendous potential to become India’s soft power if its potential is harnessed to the fullest. Therefore, this paper focuses upon how the popularity can be effectively used by examining strengths of industry and future prospects. Additionally, this paper provides relevant policy recommendations to effectively use film industry to enhance soft power as well as brief concluding remarks.

Brazil has come in for a lot of criticism for some of the positions it has taken in response to what has been called a period of ‘permanent crisis’ in world politics. European leaders in particular have shown themselves to be perplexed about what they consider to be contradictory positions in response to two crises in particular: the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the Israeli war in Gaza in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023. Yet, the Brazilian response to these crises should not have come as a surprise. Using the conceptual frameworks of Complexity and Human Systems Dynamics, as well as complexity mapping as an illustrative model, this paper argues that the Brazilian positions to these crises are both predictable and internally coherent. What is lacking is mutual knowledge and understanding of these positions. Increasing such understanding is critical as a way of working together more effectively stopping the waste of political capital on issues over which outsiders have little to no influence.

The article’s primary purpose is to analyse maritime governance in the Global South. The Global South is responsible for the most significant share of living and non-living resources and the vastest part of the world’s seas and oceans. State and non-state actors located in the Southern Hemisphere face similar challenges of unsustainable exploitation of fishery and fossils, growing expansion of the Global North, illicit actions of non-state actors threatening the security of Sea Lines of Communication, and climate change posing existential jeopardy through the rise of sea level. The article attempts to answer the research questions of how the Global South countries differ in their maritime governance approaches, the reasons behind those differences, and what common points can be identified in their actions. The comparative study is applied to find differences and similarities in their search for the most effective model of maritime governance. The basis of the comparative study is not three oceans – Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic, but two continents – Africa and Asia, and their institutional frameworks in significant areas of maritime governance – legal, security, and blue economy. The article claims that existing channels of coordination and several ideas proposed by leaders of the Global South within the United Nations and regional trade and political platforms of cooperation in the 21st century could serve as instruments enabling the implementation of ideas of trans-continental cooperation and oceanic corridors.

The European Union’s development cooperation policy has evolved significantly since its inception in the Treaty of Rome (1957). The main aim of the study is to find the objectives of the EU to reduce disparities between the Global North and the Global South. Despite several policy attempts to bridge the developmental gaps in the Global South, the North-South divide remains a significant challenge. This article analyses how the EU has been actively working to address the disparities between the Global North-South through its development policy. Qualitative empirical analysis involves the interpretation of the EU reports, press briefs, and strategy papers and analysing them to understand concepts, perspectives, and experiences from both primary and secondary sources, as well as Global South responses. The analysis underscores the EU’s dual role as a promoter of international development and a strategic actor balancing political, economic, and security interests.

This article aims to analyse governance as a framework for decision-making, a limes of rationality in terms of broadband deliberation and a bedrock for the rise and transformation of the Global South. Governance will be approached broadly – more as the conceptualisation and framing of political solutions – than narrowly conceived political steering focused on state power and reminiscent of control. The article will provide an opportunity to discuss the characteristics of governance in the public sphere and gain insight into deliberation as a central institution within the governance framework. It will also introduce a discussion about continuity and change in global governance from the standpoint of the emerging Global South capable of building countervailing, deliberative institutions of global governance (the BRICS) that explicitly distanced non-Western states from incumbent powers as well as accentuated change and continuity in global governance from the solidarity-based initiative around the ‘Bandung spirit’.