The India, Brazil, South Africa Alliance: A Sensible Alternative to South-South Cooperation.

The world is no longer divided along the neatly defined poles of ideology and development. With growing discontent around the results of economic globalisation there is a resurgence of South-South cooperation and a need to develop an alternative to the current orthodoxy that shapes the global agenda and the international political economy at large. But the response from the South is far from united. Despite a common need to address inequalities and unacceptable levels of poverty, countries are divided on basic approaches to achieve the ambitious outcomes required. These are compounded by ideological differences and power struggles of influence, which have traditionally hampered progressive South-South dialogue in the past. The India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA) alliance is different. With common goals and objectives, and a coherent agenda, IBSA proposes a feasible plan to address some of the most pressing issues in the developing world by integrating the South, engaging the developed north and effectively using multilateral fora to truly benefit the marginalised masses in developing countries. IBSA proposes greater coherence and dialogue toward tangible economic and developmental outcomes as opposed to the ideologically loaded rhetoric that tends to dominate other (and previous) alliances of the South â€" united in what they are against, but vague on feasible alternatives for progress forward. This paper will explore the role of IBSA - and its priorities - in shaping the new and emerging economic order from the South. IBSA forms the hard core of developing countries that is carving out a new path for economic development for less developed countries and seeks to integrate the majority of less developed countries that have been largely excluded from the formal global economic systems. This approach of engagement and targeted development programmes will be discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]