The Reversibility of Global South Politics in the Contestation of World Order: A Postcolonial Critique of Eurocentrism and the Captive Mind

Abstract

This article offers a critical reflection on the subordination of the Global South within a global world order constructed upon Eurocentric foundations. Employing a postcolonial approach and historiographical method, this study examines how Eurocentrism—as a representation of Global North power—operates through political, intellectual, cultural, and moral dimensions to sustain forms of hegemony over the Global South. This dynamic is manifested in the economic sphere (through institutions such as the IMF, World Bank, WTO, and trade standardization mechanisms), the security sphere (through alliance frameworks such as AUKUS), and the socio-cultural sphere (through processes of globalization and Westernization). This condition contributes to what Syed Hussein Alatas termed the "captive mind," referring to an uncritical and imitative mode of thinking that may constrain the Global South by reinforcing the perception that emulating Western models represents the primary pathway toward civilizational advancement.Building on these observations, this article proposes the concept of the reversibility of Global South politics as an effort to redirect dominant patterns of thought through five key strategies: exploring the intellectual contributions of local Global South thinkers, formulating values grounded in local cultural contexts, disseminating alternative discourses through institutionalized platforms, addressing entrenched forms of feudalism that inhibit critical thought, and internationalizing locally developed concepts. By utilizing potential resources such as cultural diversity, the emergence of China as a non-Eurocentric global actor, and structural interdependencies between the Global South and the Global North, this reversibility seeks to strengthen the intellectual autonomy of Global South perspectives and contribute to the development of a more equitable, peaceful, and pluralistic world order based on diverse worldviews.