The Post-COVID World Order and Ukraine War: Analysing the Normative Trajectory of the R2P Norm in the Global South

Abstract

This article focuses on the normative trajectory of the world order that is transitioning in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the post-pandemic environment, the Global South countries are emerging as crucial decision-makers as they are exerting their influence by actively advocating their interests through multilateral platforms such as BRICS and G20, thereby contributing to the global-norm building. Hence, they are re-defining their position as ‘norm-shapers’ by pushing the boundaries of the existing liberal international order by consistently challenging and engaging with the normative framework of this order. This complex moment of change overlaps with new geopolitical concerns such as the Ukraine War, which has raised fresh debates about humanitarian norms like the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). In this context, it becomes imperative to analyse the role of the actors of Global South particularly with regard to their response to the Ukraine War and contestation of global R2P norms. As a result, borrowing from the norms scholarship, the study examines the agential role of Global South countries in shaping the normative architecture of the global order away from the West by contesting and manoeuvring hierarchical diffusion of humanitarian norms like R2P vis-à-vis the Ukraine War. Methodologically, while the different heterogeneous actors operating within the Global South are considered, it primarily focuses on some of the key players such as India, Brazil and South Africa as the significant drivers of the transitions in the emerging geopolitical landscape of the changing world order.