Welcome to our Newsletter,

 

The international landscape is undergoing significant adjustments as established and emerging powers reassess their strategic priorities, security partnerships, and positions within the global order. From the Atlantic Basin to the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Latin America, recent developments illustrate how geopolitical competition, domestic political dynamics, and evolving forms of cooperation are reshaping international relations. These transformations raise broader questions about the distribution of power, the future of multilateralism, and the capacity of states to pursue greater strategic autonomy amid persistent economic and security dependencies.

 

In the Atlantic Basin, the ongoing reconfiguration of international power invites renewed reflection on the role of the United States and the prospects for pan-Atlantic cooperation in an increasingly multipolar environment. In the Mediterranean, Russia is adapting its military presence following the fall of Bashar al-Assad, maintaining a negotiated foothold in Syria while strengthening its operational infrastructure in Libya. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, the Mecca defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and Pakistan raises questions about the emergence of new regional security arrangements, their practical effectiveness, and their relationship with existing partnerships involving the United States. Recent developments in civil aviation also draw attention to evolving security vulnerabilities and the challenges of anticipating emerging threats.

 

Domestic political developments are equally important in shaping international relations. In Latin America, Brazil's electoral cycle has brought economic policy, relations with the United States, and the pursuit of strategic autonomy to the forefront of political debate.

 

More broadly, China's expanding regional presence and the diversification of diplomatic partnerships are influencing Latin America's engagement with major powers. In Africa, electoral processes raise questions about youth participation, inclusive governance, and generational expectations, while recent anti-immigrant mobilization in South Africa highlights the tensions between domestic socioeconomic pressures, migration policies, and commitments to Pan-African solidarity.

 

At the multilateral level, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) illustrates the growing importance of alternative platforms for political, economic, and security coordination across Eurasia. Its evolution forms part of a wider debate about the role of emerging powers and the Global South in shaping international institutions. As countries across Asia, Africa, the Gulf, and Latin America seek greater representation and flexibility in their external relations, their ambitions continue to confront structural constraints, including economic vulnerabilities, technological dependencies, and geopolitical pressures.

 

Taken together, these developments suggest that the international order is being reshaped through overlapping regional transformations rather than a single, linear transition. Strategic competition and economic interdependence continue to coexist with efforts to diversify partnerships, strengthen regional cooperation, and reconsider established governance frameworks.

 

This edition brings together research, opinion, and discussions addressing these dynamics, from pan-Atlanticism and regional security arrangements to electoral developments, migration, emerging powers, and the changing structures of global governance.

PUBLICATIONS & TRENDING ISSUES

The US and the Current International Reconfiguration: Implications for Pan-Atlanticism and International Relations in the Atlantic Basin (Part I)

 

Paul Isbell

 

This first part examines the Trump administration’s grand strategy and its implications for the evolving international order and the future of pan-Atlantic cooperation. Drawing parallels with the Nixon administration’s economic and geopolitical policies, the paper analyzes Washington’s efforts to restore U.S. global hegemony through tariffs, economic coercion, monetary leverage, and military power. It assesses the limitations of this strategy in an increasingly multipolar world, marked by China’s growing influence, the expansion of BRICS Plus, and mounting challenges to dollar dominance. The analysis argues that, rather than retreating into its traditional sphere of influence, the United States is pursuing a renewed attempt to restore global primacy, with significant implications for international power relations... Read more

The ‘Strategic Possibilities Frontier’ of Global Reconfiguration (Part II)

 

Paul Isbell

 

This Policy Paper examines the prospects for pan-Atlantic cooperation and regionalism amid the ongoing transformation of the international order. It analyzes how the interaction between the Trump administration’s efforts to restore U.S. global dominance and the consolidation of multipolarity could reshape power relations across the Atlantic Basin. By considering alternative scenarios for the evolution of the international system, the paper assesses the conditions under which new opportunities for pan-Atlantic cooperation and regional integration might emerge... Read more 

From Syria to Libya: Russia’s Adapted Mediterranean Strategy in the Post-Assad Era

 

Bilal Mahli, Lina Jaoid

 

In the two years since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Russia has restructured its Mediterranean presence. Although Russia’s limited and increasingly conditional access to the Khmeimim and Tartus facilities in Syria has been preserved, its presence in the country has morphed from Assad’s ‘patron-client’ configuration to a more negotiated engagement. Simultaneously, Russia has upgraded its force-projection and logistical infrastructure in eastern Libya, giving it an access path through the Mediterranean to its African theater. This policy paper argues that these strategic adjustments represent more of a redistribution of Russia’s regional stake, rather than an exit from Syria and its replacement with Libya. It maintains that the new geometry has increased both the geographic reach and the risks associated with Russian operations... Read more

 

The Mecca Joint Défense Agreement: A New Geometry of Middle Eastern Power?

 

Ferid Belhaj

 

On August 7, 2026, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Défense Agreement, a collective-defense pact widely compared to NATO’s Article 5. This essay argues that the comparison is misleading. Mecca borrows NATO’s language of solidarity without yet possessing NATO’s institutional machinery, and the Houthi offensive against Saudi Arabia in September 2026 provided an early and revealing test of what the agreement actually means in practice. Neither Pakistan nor Turkey automatically entered the fight on Saudi Arabia’s behalf, and Washington, despite an initial reluctance to strike directly, remained indispensable through intelligence support and a major proposed F-35 sale... Read more

 

The Flydubai Flight FZ1073 Incident: Towards a New Generation of Threats to Civil Aviation?

 

Abdelhak Bassou

 

On September 30, 2026, Flydubai Flight FZ1073, traveling from Dubai to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, following a violent incident in the cockpit. According to information available as of October 1, 2026, the co-pilot allegedly assaulted the captain and caused the aircraft to descend extremely rapidly before being subdued. Other Flydubai pilots on board reportedly then took over and landed the aircraft. Emirati authorities have opened an investigation focusing in particular on whether the act was premeditated and whether it may have had a terrorist motive. At this stage, the motive has not been established, and no link to any organization or state has been demonstrated... Read more

 

The 2026 Elections In AFRICA: Youth Participation, Inclusive Governance, and Generational Issues

 

Nouzha Chekrouni

 

Elections are one of the barometers of democracy, and the year 2026 marks a turning point. With several simultaneous legislative elections taking place across the continent, including Morocco’s legislative elections on September 23, the issue of youth participation in decision-making processes has taken on renewed urgency. Compounding this electoral context is an unprecedented structural transformation: artificial intelligence is reshaping labor markets, civic spaces, and the dynamics of governance that young people will have to navigate in the coming decade... Read more

 

OP-EDS

Brazil’s Election and Global South Autonomy

 

Marcus Vinicius de Freitas

 

Brazil's election poses a question that extends well beyond Latin America: how much freedom does a country retain to define its international role when external pressure collides with domestic political exhaustion? For the Global South, the answer matters more than any foreign government's preference regarding the next occupant of the presidential palace. Strategic autonomy remains fragile if every change of government puts a country's freedom of action back up for negotiation... Read more

Brazilian Elections Are the Key to Where Latin America Is Headed

 

Otaviano Canuto

 

You can imagine how often I've been asked to comment on where the Brazilian economy is headed after the election. With polls pointing to a runoff on October 25 and currently showing a statistical tie between Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro in vote simulations, I'm naturally asked about their economic programs and about the country's relations with the United States. Regardless of who wins, the next president will inherit a Brazilian economy that is slowing down. GDP growth is estimated at 1.9% in 2026, which would be the worst performance since 2020... Read more

 

The Mecca Agreement: A First Step Towards a New Regional Security Architecture?

 

Bilal Mahli

 

On 7 August, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed the Mecca Agreement, a trilateral defense pact aimed at strengthening collective security and defense cooperation between the three countries. At its core lies a collective defense commitment under which an attack on one member is considered an attack on all three. While many details concerning its practical implementation remain unclear, the agreement brings together, for the first time, three important regional middle powers within a new security framework and remains open for other countries in the region to join... Read more

 

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization SCO and the Changing Geography of Global Order

 

Marcus Vinicius de Freitas

 

Much of Western debate was revealingly silent on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which took place on August 31 and September 1 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. That relative silence reflects how poorly the organization’s growing significance is still understood.  The meeting has not gone unreported. Any gathering of Xi Jinping, Narendra Modi, and Vladimir Putin inevitably attracts headlines. Yet much of the coverage still treats SCO as a regional organization, a diplomatic curiosity of Eurasia, or, more simplistically, an anti-Western gathering... Read more

(FR) When the “Rainbow Nation” Turns Its Back on Africa

 

Driss Alaoui Belghiti

 

South Africa’s recent wave of anti-immigrant mobilization highlights growing tensions between the country’s post-apartheid democratic promises and persistent socioeconomic inequalities. Driss Alaoui Belghiti argues that African migrants have increasingly become scapegoats for unemployment, failing public services, and political shortcomings. Ahead of the November 2026 local elections, anti-migrant rhetoric is gaining political traction, despite evidence challenging claims that immigration drives unemployment and crime. The article highlights how political actors redirect public frustration toward vulnerable migrant communities rather than addressing structural failures... Read more

 

PODCAST

Latin America, World Politics and the Great Powers

 

Nizar Messari

 

In this Podcast, Nizar Messari examines how recent developments are reshaping U.S. influence in the region and affecting Latin American countries’ autonomy. He discusses the pressure on Venezuela and Cuba, Brazil’s efforts to diversify its partnerships, and China’s expanding role. The conversation also considers whether dependency theory still helps explain Latin America’s relations with major powers... Listen

 

WEBINAR

The Policy Center for the New South, in partnership with The Asian Network, is organizing a webinar titled “Emerging Powers and the Remaking of Global Order” to examine the growing role of emerging powers and the Global South at a time of profound transformation in the international system.

 

As power becomes more diffuse, economic gravity shifts, multilateralism comes under pressure, and strategic competition intensifies, countries across Asia, Africa, the Gulf, and Latin America are seeking greater strategic autonomy, strengthening South-South trade and investment, advancing digital and green transitions, and calling for greater representation in global governance.

 

These ambitions, however, unfold against significant challenges, including debt vulnerabilities, climate exposure, geopolitical pressures, technological dependencies, and gaps in institutional reform.

 

Against this backdrop, the webinar will explore how emerging powers and countries of the Global South are navigating these transformations and contributing to the next phase of global governance. It will also examine the opportunities and constraints shaping their growing role and the forms of cooperation and institutional adaptation that could emerge as the international order continues to evolve.

You are receiving this email because you have subscribed in the past, attended one or more of our events, have contact with our staff or Fellows or broader network. We consider that you want to keep receiving our think tank's publications unless you unsubscribe from our mass mailing system.

 

Unsubscribe from this mailing list | Update your details | Other requests

Publications | Events | Multimedia | Experts

 

Policy Center for the New South
Rabat Campus of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University Rocade Rabat Salé 11103, Morocco
www.policycenter.ma | contact@policycenter.ma

© 2026 Policy Center for the New South. All rights reserved.

 

Ce traitement a été notifié et autorisé par la CNDP au titre du récépissé N° D-NL-718/2020

This processing has been notified and authorized by the CNDP under receipt N ° D-NL-718/2020