BY INVITATION ONLY

A New Era of International Cooperation:

Reimagining Relations between Global South and North

As the international financial architecture confronts simultaneous pressures from climate transition, debt distress, and geopolitical fragmentation, the relationship between the Global South and North stands at a critical juncture. Traditional Western influence is recalibrating while emerging economies increasingly shape global economic outcomes. The central question is whether middle powers, spanning advanced economies in the Global North and emerging economies in the South, can anchor a more stable and equitable global order.

This high-level roundtable brings together policymakers and analysts to examine this possibility from three angles: the political and strategic feasibility of a middle power-centered order; the diplomatic architecture and coalitional strategies through which middle powers can exercise collective agency; and the institutional models and coalitional approaches through which middle powers are already innovating in development cooperation, reforming multilateral institutions, and transcending traditional donor-recipient dynamics. The conversation probes both the agility and legitimacy middle powers bring as bridgebuilders and the structural limits to their influence.

Guiding Questions:

– Is a stable global order anchored by middle powers politically and economically viable? What conditions must be met, and where are the principal constraints, from the perspective of feasibility, economic capacity, and geopolitical interest?

– What distinguishes effective middle power multilateralism from mere aspiration? When the United States abdicates and China is unwilling to lead, can “variable geometry” coalitions andminilateral arrangements fill the vacuum — or do superpower resistance, internal heterogeneity, and domestic political pressures limit what coalitions of the willing can realistically achieve?

– What capabilities, institutional models, and coalitional approaches enable middle powers to drive innovation in development cooperation and bridge North-South divides – and where do structural constraints limit their influence?

Introductions:

– Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director Global Order and Institutions Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

– Matthias Jobelius, Director, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung New York

– Marc Uzan, Director, Reinventing Bretton Woods Committee

Panelists:

– Moeed Wasim Yusuf, Vice Chancellor, Beaconhouse National University, former National Security Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister

“Is A Stable Middle Power Order Possible?” [download]

– Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow and Director Global Order and Institutions Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

“The Middle Power Moment” [read]

– Nicole Goldin, Head, Equitable Development, United Nations University-Centre for Policy Research

“Understanding Middle Powers in Development Finance Cooperation” [download]

Respondents:

– Bambang Brodjonegoro, Dean and CEO at the Asian Development Bank Institute, former Minister of Finance Indonesia

– Bruno Saraiva, Civil Servant at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), former Alternate Executive Director for Brazil at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

– Kairat Kelimbetov, Former Deputy PM of Kazakhstan and Governor of National Bank of Kazakhstan