A Shifting Global Order

      The term Global South is a paradox in itself. Frequently invoked, rarely defined, and often misused, it groups together countries as diverse as Brazil, India, South Africa, Indonesia, and Qatar. Their politics vary, their economies diverge, and their strategic goals often collide. Yet this is not the first time the world has sought to group together nations historically relegated to the margins of global power. As imperfect and contested as these labels may be—Non-Aligned Movement, Third World, emerging economies, developing countries, and now Global South—their persistence reveals an underlying truth: there has always been a felt need to distinguish those existing outside the dominant centers of influence.

 

      That need has not disappeared. But today, the context has fundamentally shifted. The so-called Global South is no longer merely reacting to the global order—it is increasingly shaping it. What unites these nations now is a shared ambition to redefine the very architecture of international relations. They reject hegemonies and inherited dependencies. They assert sovereignty, independence, and the right to strategic flexibility. These are no longer the demands of the marginalized—they are the ambitions of actors who know their weight.

 

      To accompany this new world, we must begin with an intellectual revolution. We are living through tectonic shifts: the war in Ukraine, the fracture of U.S. foreign policy orthodoxy, a remilitarizing Europe, dedollarization trends, and a new economic reality in which BRICS+ now outweighs the G7. These are not isolated events. They are symptoms of a collapsing world order—and the birth of another.

 

      Nihilism and the Intellectual Void

      And yet, at this turning point, we see no coherent vision to guide the transition among decision-makers. We are flooded with actions but starved of ideas. A flurry of short-term measures masks a deeper crisis: the collapse of imagination. The global system is evolving faster than our capacity to conceptualize it.

 

      This vacuum has birthed a dangerous reflex: nihilism, the sanctification of void, the glorification of cynicism. In the absence of ideas, of collective narratives, of world-shaping projects, we get the worst: policies driven by impulse and emotion, the normalization of lies, the erosion of ethics, and a culture that revels in destruction—even self-destruction. Many societies have become driven by negative projects—defined more by reaction than vision. Some now speak casually of inevitable conflicts of the West against the Rest, or even of the West against itself. No one is spared from the dangers of this great intellectual black hole which threatens the very possibility of global peace.

 

      In such times, politics cannot be reduced to technical governance or strategic charts. Humanity needs what it has always needed: vision, meaning, ideas, and the capacity to imagine a future beyond day-to-day management. Without this, a void expands—and technocracy, far from filling it, only feeds it.

 

      Bringing New Ideas to the Table

      There is another path. There are those—myself among them—who believe that change must be understood, not feared or fought. Not as chaos, but as opportunity. The leaders of tomorrow will be those who recognize the creative force within collapse—and who dare to think at the scale this new era demands.

 

      A new world requires new visions. The unipolar order, with its illusion of “the end of history,” is gone. But the multipolar world envisioned by BRICS+ is not yet here. We are in transition—a period Hannah Arendt might call a “change of era.” In these moments, ideas matter more than ever. And it is up to us—students, thinkers, and decision-makers—to meet this moment with creativity. This is especially true for youth, for those of us not yet shackled by the institutional logic of a world we did not build. We must resist becoming parrots of the past. We need a generation of avant-garde thinkers: bold, unorthodox and visionary. Unafraid to question every assumption, to rethink every model, to identify every opportunity this moment of transition may hold.

 

      Embracing the Diversity Of the World

      Inspired by the ideal of Convivencia drawn from Al-Andalus’ imagination, we believe that difference is not an obstacle to unity, but its very foundation. True cooperation does not require uniformity or unipolarity. It demands respect. Imposing a single model on nations with divergent histories and worldviews is not only unrealistic—it is counterproductive. The world is not a blank canvas waiting to be painted in one color. It is already rich in meaning, layered with traditions, and alive with plural truths. To build genuine connections, we must embrace this diversity—not as something to be tolerated, but as a chance to be cherished.

 

      Our ambition is to be both apolitical and deeply engaged. To close the chapter on an outdated order, without closing the door on anyone. To innovate with boldness, and include with generosity. This is not just another think tank—it is a movement. Fluid, irreversible, yet shapeable. As Henri Bergson once said: "The future is not what will happen. The future is what we will do."