France promotes “strategic autonomy” and thinks beyond the current dividing lines between the "Global North and South," Ambassador Marie Masdupuy has said.
The French ambassador was speaking on "Revisiting the Global South’s Contribution to Global Peace - A French Perspective" on Sunday at an event organized by the Centre for Peace Studies of North South University.
She pointed out the Global North’s “arrogance” and South’s “resentment,” and suggested building “concrete common projects, aimed at strengthening stability and bringing better development where needed.”
“For that to happen, we will have to think beyond the current dividing lines between a so-called West and a so-called Global South,” she said. “This is at the heart of French foreign policy under President Macron’s leadership”.
She said France promotes a policy of strategic autonomy, advocating for democratic values, multilateralism and cooperative approaches rather than confrontational methods to global challenges.
“France not only claims not to be the vassal of any other sovereign entity but also aspires to build alliances and partnerships with other countries with similar aspirations, whatever their status, development level and values.”
Arrogance vs resentment
The “Global South” concept gained traction in the 1970s with the call for a New International Economic Order and later with a Willy Brandt report drawing a line between countries with higher GDP per capita (mainly in the Northern Hemisphere) and poorer ones (mainly in the Southern Hemisphere).
The term replaced the pejorative "Third World" post-Soviet Union and became central in global discussions, especially with Russia's attempts to rally the “Global South” against the West after its invasion of Ukraine, the ambassador said.
“But it’s a very heterogeneous and hybrid group, with very poor countries and richer ones; their positioning on many important issues (climate, different crises, adherence to various values etc) can vary considerably. They are very diverse economically, politically and culturally,” she said.
“Indeed, Russia has been pretending that it wants to restore a multipolar order, against what it sees as a unipolar one, with the exclusive domination of the United States. And to attract support to that agenda, Russia has been trying to entice the Global South against the evil Collective West. In reality, Russia’s efforts to that end did not succeed because the current world order was not unipolar,” she said.
“As a minimum, it’s been a bipolar (US/China) world, and in reality, it’s already multipolar (in addition to the US and China, India, Brazil, UAE, South Africa, and the EU), amongst others, are effectively representing different poles with specific agendas and interests.”
From the Western perspective, the concept of the South is “at best perceived as intellectually erroneous, at worst as a political weapon used by rogue States,” she said, adding that the North itself does not perceive itself as the “collective West” supposedly opposed to the “Global South.”
Western countries do adhere to a certain number of collective values, in particular those enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, but this declaration itself is supposed to be universally accepted, she said.
Viewed from the South, Masdupuy said, the denial by some Western countries to look at non-western countries as a bloc labelled as the “Global South” is sometimes interpreted as yet another form of Western arrogance.
Despite shared frustrations with the West’s policies, the “Global South” has diverging views on many issues, such as climate change, she added.
A unifying factor, however, is the widespread condemnation of sanctions be it from the UN, US, EU or bilateral measures, the ambassador said.
She spoke about BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) which emerged as an economic and political bloc in the late 1990s, challenging the dominance of the G7.
Despite its ambitions, BRICS has struggled “to produce tangible results, often acting as a political club rather than an effective multilateral force,” Masdupuy said.
Its appeal lies in its defiance of the West, though its principles, such as democracy and multilateralism, often lack substance for some of its members, notably Russia, she said.
The ambassador also discussed current conflicts like Ukraine and Gaza, and the criticism of "double standards" often levelled against the West.
The “Global South” sees a pattern of the West intervening in certain conflicts but turning a blind eye to others, particularly those involving Southern countries, she said.
She highlighted the distinction between government positions and public opinion, with many governments in the “Global South” accused of not acting decisively on issues such as Sudan or Iran, despite vocal public support.
“Concerning the dual standards accusation, it’s always been present in all conflicts, whoever is waging them and whoever is a victim of them. Every country should look at itself in the mirror,” she said.
The French perspective
France’s voice in the concert of nations has long been a “singular one.”
“From De Gaulle’s posture during Second WW, till his withdrawal of Nato’s military Command in 1966, to our current Indo-Pacific Strategy, one and only motto: strategic autonomy,” she said.
France positions itself as a partner of trust, avoiding political conditionalities and emphasizing respect for sovereignty; in the case of Gaza, France initially condemned the violence but later called for a ceasefire and adherence to international law as Israel's actions escalated, she said.
