In the spotlight 1
The US demolition of the post-World War II global order and the Global South
A dying global order
In the second year of Donald Trump’s second term, beginning with the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, followed by the war he has waged against Iran alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US president has continued his demolition of the 80-year-old global order set up by the US in the aftermath of the Second World War.
The dying regime is a structure of rules, practices, and policies maintaining the hegemony of the US and the rest of the capitalist west that was promoted with the rhetoric of freedom, free trade, and democracy. The US has replaced its rules and practices, which were already unfair to the Global South, with the unilateral exercise of coercion and force, and the rule that might makes right.
We are only in the first three months of 2026, but Trump has already succeeded in dismantling the political fictions of the old regime, among them the central principle of the UN that expressly prohibits “the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” The kidnapping of Maduro and the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei were the hegemon’s announcement to the world that no country was exempt from outright, brazen intervention should Trump see it fit to do so. Nor were foreign territories belonging to close allies, such as Greenland, immune from annexation should Trump decide it is in the US national interest to grab them.
Transforming the multilateral economic regime
But before dismantling the political-military fiction of the old regime, Trump assaulted its economic fiction in 2025, resuming what he began during his first presidency, from 2017 to 2021. During that period, he continued the policy of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, of blocking appointments and reappointments to the Appellate Court of the World Trade Organization (WTO), effectively paralyzing the body. But even more brazenly, he declared a unilateral trade war against China, undermining the system of rules and conventions of global trade that the US led in institutionalizing in 1994 with the founding of the WTO.
In 2025, Trump expanded his trade wars to about 90 other countries. Among them were 50 African countries, some of whom received some of the highest, most punitive tariff increases in the world, like Lesotho (50 per cent), Madagascar (47%), Mauritius (40%), Botswana (37%), and South Africa (30%). There was little reason to the rates imposed, though in the case of South Africa, it was partly as punishment for bringing Israel to the International Court of Justice for committing genocide in Gaza.
Foreign aid as an instrument of US policy was a pillar of the old international regime. As Thomas Sankara, one of Africa’s foremost fighters for liberation, observed, “He who feeds you controls you.” To please his far-right base that did not see foreign aid as important for the maintenance of US hegemony, one of Trump’s first acts, undertaken with Elon Musk, the world’s richest individual, was the abolition of the Agency for International Development (AID). For some, this was a tragedy since USAID programs were allegedly funding important public health and reproductive health projects in the Global South. For others, it was no loss at all since most of the funds for these initiatives went to pay the US contractors delivering or managing them.
But Trump and Musk did not make any move to dismantle or reduce the flow of US funds to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and regional development banks through which the US channels money for dominating the Global South via “development assistance” or “structural adjustment”, and in which the US has veto power.
These institutions continue to maintain poverty-creating structural adjustment programs, especially in Africa, promote wrong-headed so-called export-led industrialization efforts even as the US imposes massive punitive tariffs on imports from the Global South, and block all efforts to solve the massive indebtedness of developing countries (over $11.4 trillion).
Towards a global alliance of resistance and change
Trump’s moves are mainly directed at people and countries in the Global South. There is a logic to this strategy since it is mainly the Global South that has shifted the balance of global power and created the crisis of US hegemony. Among the landmarks in this historic process have been the rise of China to becoming the second most powerful economy in the world, the massive defeats of US arms in Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan over the last 25 years, the rise of Iran as a regional power despite all the efforts of the US and Israel to contain it, the ability of developing countries to stymie the WTO as an engine of trade liberalization, and the rise of the BRICS as a potential counterweight to the western alliance.
Also central to the weakening of the hegemon has been the deepening crisis of the global capitalist regime, the key manifestations of which are the deindustrialization of the US and Europe, the financialization of the leading capitalist economies where speculation rather than production has become the investment of choice, the astounding rise in global income and wealth inequality, and the sharpening contradiction between planetary survival and the ever more intensive drive for profits.
Trump’s regime of unilateralism is savage. But there is no going back to the old regime of US hegemony exercised through a multilateral order systematically biased against the Global South behind a façade of liberal democratic rhetoric. For us in the Global South, indeed, for all who are partisans of justice, peace, and planetary survival, there is no choice but to bravely meet the challenge of navigating the turbulent waters of this period of transition if we are to get to the haven of a new global order that will serve the common interest of humanity and the planet.
In the spotlight 2
State autonomy and small-scale producers’ mobilization are key to strong market regulation, food sovereignty, and a fair-trading system
Strong market regulation and territorial markets are essential for building autonomous food systems and ensuring food sovereignty. By defending national autonomy and using it wisely, countries can effectively implement regulations that prioritize the needs of their small-scale producers. Small-scale producers across regions are mobilizing to demand necessary policy measures that allow them to continue farming, fishing, herding, and producing food for all. Those engaged in family farming often find themselves squeezed by an unregulated global market that prioritizes corporate and speculative interests.
The global pandemic and geopolitical conflicts have highlighted the vulnerabilities of the global trade system and the challenges posed by dependence on imported food and inputs. In Africa, some governments have co-opted the concept of “food sovereignty” to refer to domestic food self-sufficiency through modernized agriculture. Despite this distortion, there is growing recognition of the resilience of family farms and the advantages of territorial markets versus global supply chains.
FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) reports and recommendations from the UN Committee on World Food Security reveal that most food consumed worldwide flows through various territorial markets rather than global supply chains. These markets are linked to local, national, and regional food systems; they are more inclusive and diversified than single commodity value chains, particularly for women and youth. Territorial markets perform multiple economic, social, cultural, and ecological functions, contributing significantly to local economies by allowing wealth to be retained and redistributed at the farm level.
Market regulation is crucial for defending these markets and ensuring fair revenues for small-scale producers, covering their production costs while providing healthy food at stable prices for consumers. This goal requires addressing structural issues through proactive public policies and instruments, such as public food stocks, import quotas, and minimum price regulations.
Over recent decades, market regulation tools have been undermined by structural adjustments and neo-liberal policies that have worsened food insecurity and favored speculation and corporate consolidation in global supply chains, detracting from healthy local food production. The current context presents opportunities to advocate for the reintroduction of regulations at the core of sustainable food systems development.
In West Africa, movements like the Network of Peasant and Agricultural Producer Organizations (ROPPA) implement actions aimed at strengthening market regulation and building local markets to ensure fair prices. These efforts promote family farms and support local food systems that protect markets and develop shorter marketing channels connecting producers with consumers.
Moreover, organized peasant networks often hold agricultural fairs that enhance local and urban markets, positively impacting farmers’ incomes. At the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum held in Sri Lanka in September 2025, small-scale food producers emphasized the need to generate analyses and evidence for effective advocacy. Movements are working to identify global examples of effective market regulation initiatives supported by researchers to document proactive benefits.
In this challenging geopolitical era, it is vital for non-aligned governments to unite and craft policies that defend their small-scale food producers and protect food sovereignty.