This panel will analyse the relationships between the states of Central and Eastern Europe and the Global South in the context of the advancing multipolarisation of the international system. The growing agency of non-European actors, the erosion of Western dominance, and intensifying great-power rivalry are reshaping the strategic environment in which the states of the region operate.
The Global South is becoming an important arena for pursuing political, economic, and security partnerships. The Russian–Ukrainian war has underscored the significance of states in Asia, Africa, and Latin America for the dynamics of the conflict and for the formation of global coalitions and sanctions regimes.
At the same time, the responses of Central and Eastern European states reveal clear differences in strategic approaches. Ukraine, together with several Central European countries, has in recent years intensified its engagement with the Global South, seeking to expand networks of support and diversify avenues of cooperation. By contrast, Belarus has, for a longer period, developed relations with non-Western actors and has engaged in formats such as BRICS, using them as instruments to strengthen its international position and redefine its agency.
The panel focuses on the state as an actor: its strategic calculations, structural constraints, and modes of adaptation to shifting power configurations.
Panel „Central and Eastern Europe and the Global South in a Multipolar World”