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This week's opinion piece in The Economist, co-authored by the Prime Minister of Canada and the President of Finland, leaves me somewhat uneasy. Ever since his much-discussed speech at the World Economic Forum, Mark Carney has been widely praised in the media and increasingly portrayed in policy circles as a leader capable of rallying the world's "middle powers" against the growing despotisms of the United States, Russia, and China.
I took the trouble of rereading the transcript of that Davos speech. At no point does Carney address the predicament of the Global South. His focus remains firmly on Denmark/Greenland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states. When he briefly and rather perfunctorily mentions emerging economies, it is merely to reaffirm Canada's identity as a global trading nation - that is, a country willing to do business with China, India, ASEAN, and Mercosur. There is not even the outline of a common platform capable of bringing together both the established middle powers (Canada, Australia, the Nordic countries, and others) and those still climbing the ladder (Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, Turkey, Mexico, and so forth).
At its core, Carney's project is about solving his own problem - and the problems of countries like his. These are states that prospered under the liberal international order built after the Second World War but now find themselves feeling exposed and uncertain about the future. Let us not deceive ourselves: he is not offering an alliance with the emerging powers.
Middle powers in the Global South will continue to have to chart their own course - one that can and should remain universalist, with the diversification of partnerships as a guiding principle. But under no circumstances should we mistake someone else's interests for our own. Societies south of the equator pursue objectives that will not always be compatible, or even reconcilable, with those of the governments in Ottawa or Helsinki.
The claim that "middle powers should unite" is, in the end, little more than an empty slogan.



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