As the world edges further away from the post-Second World War era of Western dominance, a profound geopolitical transformation is underway. The global order that once revolved around the principles of market capitalism, secular individualism, and democracy—primarily shaped by the United States and its allies—now faces mounting challenges from emerging powers and multilateral alliances. Nowhere is this tectonic shift more evident than in Africa and across the Global South, where new alliances, digital battlegrounds, and infrastructure rivalries are redrawing the contours of international politics, economics, and information control.
For decades, African nations have operated within a global system they had little role in designing. According to Daily News, the post-war liberal international order was not presented as an option but as the only legitimate path to development and global acceptance. Yet, the imposition of this model—often through policies like the 1980s Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPS), which enforced privatisation, austerity, and market deregulation—largely disregarded Africa’s communitarian traditions and consensus-driven governance. The result was a continent relegated to the periphery of global trade, supplying raw materials while importing finished goods, and accounting for just 4 percent of global trade despite housing 17 percent of the world’s population.
European and American farmers have long benefited from billions in subsidies, while African farmers and industries are expected to compete on a supposedly level playing field. The financial system, dominated by Western-led institutions like the IMF and World Bank, has further marginalized Africa, facilitating illicit outflows and maintaining voting structures that systematically sideline the continent’s interests. The upshot? Many of Africa’s brightest young people flee abroad in search of opportunity, and the continent’s economic sovereignty remains constrained by foreign actors and inflexible global rules.
Yet, the winds of change are unmistakable. The rise of China as a global economic powerhouse stands as a testament to the possibility of instrumentalizing the liberal order for national advantage. As highlighted by Daily News, China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001 opened the doors to Western markets, powering its manufacturing sector and leveraging foreign direct investment—all while maintaining a state-centric, one-party system that diverged sharply from the Western liberal playbook. China’s success has inspired calls for Africa to pursue a similarly pragmatic approach: blending state leadership with strategic integration into global markets, and harnessing the continent’s rich tapestry of over 3,000 ethnic identities to foster internal cohesion and resilience.
This strategic recalibration comes as the world moves toward multipolarity. The Group of Twenty (G20), currently under South African presidency, is emblematic of this shift. The G20 brings together the world’s largest developed and developing economies, accounting for 85 percent of global GDP, 75 percent of international trade, and two-thirds of the global population. It legitimizes the rise of new power centers such as China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia, and accelerates the transition away from a US-centric system.
Another major force reshaping the landscape is BRICS, now expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia alongside its core members. As Harici reports, BRICS represents over 41 percent of global GDP and is pushing for trade in non-dollar currencies, distributed decision-making, and infrastructure development. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), meanwhile, has called for a Global Governance Initiative based on sovereign equality, multilateralism, and tangible cooperation in finance, energy, and artificial intelligence.
But this evolving order is not without friction. The competition between China and India within BRICS, for instance, underscores the bloc’s internal diversity and the challenge for Africa and other regions to navigate a delicate balancing act among competing interests. Moreover, the rise of alternative centers of power has prompted a sophisticated response from the West—one that increasingly plays out in the digital realm.
According to Dr. Ahmed Mostafa in Harici, Western-based social media platforms and multinational corporations have become potent instruments of soft power, used to undermine the cohesion of these emerging alliances. Platforms like Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and Google, governed from Silicon Valley, control the global information ecosystem, with algorithms that prioritize emotionally charged content and facilitate the rapid dissemination of manipulated narratives. Studies by the Oxford Internet Institute have documented coordinated inauthentic behavior targeting nations like Myanmar and Indonesia, exacerbating ethno-religious tensions and destabilizing societies from within.
The impact has been tangible. In Indonesia, youth-led protests in August 2025—rooted in genuine grievances over economic reforms and inequality—were quickly co-opted by Western disinformation campaigns. Bot networks and algorithmically boosted content redirected public anger, framing Chinese investments such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail as neocolonial debt traps and scapegoating Beijing for domestic woes. Similarly, in Nepal, opposition to BRI projects has been amplified through digital campaigns that paint Chinese involvement as a threat to sovereignty, echoing Western strategic narratives and undermining regional cooperation.
The stakes are high. As Harici notes, the economic and social repercussions of this digital colonialism are profound, with disinformation campaigns causing economic damage equivalent to up to 1.5 percent of a nation’s GDP, according to a 2020 EU report. The imperative for the Global South, therefore, is to develop sovereign digital ecosystems and alternative media networks, reducing dependence on Western platforms and ensuring control over national discourse. BRICS and the SCO, with their vast combined populations and resources, are well-positioned to pursue this path—drawing on China’s technological capabilities and Russia’s experience in sovereign internet infrastructure to build interoperable platforms grounded in data sovereignty and digital non-alignment.
Meanwhile, the competition for Africa’s future has intensified. China has long outpaced the United States as the continent’s largest trading partner, with trade volumes four times that of US-Africa trade and cumulative investments estimated at $2.23 trillion since 2005. The Belt and Road Initiative alone has funneled over $21.7 billion in loans to Africa in 2023, securing access to strategic minerals and rare earth elements. The Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, now sees Chinese companies controlling 72 percent of its cobalt and copper mines.
Not to be outdone, the US and its European partners have launched their own initiatives, such as the Lobito Corridor—a railway project connecting Zambia, the DRC, and Angola to the Atlantic, designed to rival the BRI. Announced in 2023, the Lobito Corridor has received over $3 billion in US financing, with support from the African Development Bank and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), a G7 initiative. The project aims to secure the supply of rare earth minerals and industrial metals crucial for green energy and technology sectors, while presenting itself as a more multilateral and environmentally conscious alternative to China’s model.
Yet, the shadow of colonialism and skepticism about Western motives linger. The Benguela railway, part of the Lobito Corridor, evokes memories of brutal exploitation, and many Africans remain wary of new forms of dependency. As Harici observes, the intensifying competition between China and the US-EU alliance could open a window of opportunity for African nations—if their governments prioritize the interests of their people and invest in internal reform, transparent governance, and value addition to exports.
Ultimately, the path forward for Africa and the Global South lies in reclaiming agency—mastering global systems rather than rejecting them outright, and blending internal reform with strategic external engagement. The emergence of a multipolar world offers both promise and peril, but for the first time in generations, the rules of the game are up for negotiation. The question is whether Africa and its partners will seize this moment to shape a future that is truly their own.