Innovating South-South Cooperation

Abstract

the emergence of new economies and the significance of their trade with each other, including Brazil, China, India, and Malaysia, were both noted and explored.Since these meetings, SSC has grown in both significance and magnitude. Emerging and middle-income countries especially have experienced a significant increase in trading relationships between trading partners in similar economic positions. Najam and Thrasher assert that "the global financial downturn and stalled multilateral trade negotiations" have spurred the growth of these forms of cooperation (Najam and Thrasher 2012, 1). The UN Office for SSC is continually researching and drafting policies that address the peculiarities of SSC as both a policy measure and a practice. Yet, in spite of the important role these forms of cooperation play in global trading affairs, and in turn socio-political realities, a critical study of SSC is lacking in scholarship. The concept has been gaining momentum faster than academic literature has been able to keep up.This volume arose out of an evident lack of literature on SSC, both in academia and the policy world. Current forms, mechanisms, and dynamics of international affairs, including development assistance, trade, and regional social policy, are creating linkages across borders in new and exciting ways. For example, the shifting dominance of emerging southern countries such as India, China, Nigeria, and Turkey is in part owing to the increasing importance of groupings such as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) and MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Turkey). The chapters in this book highlight historical as well as contemporary challenges, realities, and opportunities for SSC and shed light on prospects. SSC and Its DiscontentsSouth-South Cooperation (SSC) is in essence any form of cooperation, though normally it refers to trade and socio-economic policy frameworks between two or more countries or regions that are situated in the Global South. The term "Global South" is much more nuanced than a geographical description. Although these countries are predominantly located in the southern hemisphere, the term refers to their conceptualization as developing or middle-income countries rather than their geographical location. For example, Turkey is technically in the northern hemisphere but is regarded as southern given its emerging income status; Australia and New Zealand are technically