Africa, Latin America, and Global Governance: Contributions to a New Global Order

Marcus Vinicius de Freitas

No 2604, Policy briefs on Commodities & Energy from Policy Center for the New South

Abstract: The post-1945 international order, an architecture born of war-weariness and colonial twilight, is now a majestic but empty shell. Its foundational promise—a universal system of rules administered impartially—has been hollowed out by decades of selective enforcement, instrumentalized law, and a chasm between the rhetorical ideals of its custodians and their geopolitical practice. This is not a temporary dysfunction, but a systemic failure of legitimacy. From the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses to the unilateral strangulation and takeover of Venezuela's economy, from the stark territorial violation in Ukraine to the unending humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the pattern is unmistakable: norms are invoked not as guardians of a standard order, but as weapons in the arsenal of power. This moral bankruptcy has reached its nadir at a time when humanity is confronting challenges that mock borders and sovereignties: pandemics that leap across continents in hours, a climate system in revolt, technologies that reshape consciousness and control, and transnational networks of insecurity. However, the institutions mandated to steward the world’s collective fate remain frozen in the anxieties and power distributions of 1945[1], their mechanisms better suited to managing a bipolar Cold War, than orchestrating a planetary response to planetary crises.

Date: 2026-01
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