The war in Ukraine, the Global South and the evolving global order

Abstract

This special section explores how nine key countries from the Global South have responded to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As the Western attempt to build a global anti-Russia coalition has largely failed, the focus on countries from the Global South becomes more important but remains under-researched in the discipline. This introductory article offers the conceptual framework for the following empirical contributions. Based on the rational and constructivist school of thinking, we develop four guiding assumptions. Accordingly, we assume that foreign policy positioning to the war relates to the varied consequences of the conflict, can be related to strategic opportunism, displays pragmatic indifference or is value-driven. Contributions to this special section offer a detailed empirical analysis according to these four conceptual categories.