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Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Bates College Journal of Political Studies

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the Global South has undergone a significant shift from loose political coordination to more formalized institutional structures. The New Development Bank (NDB) was founded by the BRICS in 2015 and embodies this transition by combining the egalitarian ethos of earlier South-South initiatives such as the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Forum. This paper argues that the NDB represents a distinctive and paradoxical form of Global South institutionalization. It advances principles of equality, sovereignty, and mutual benefit while also adopting bureaucratic and geopolitical practices. Through an analysis of the Bank’s governance design, operational innovations, and evolving development philosophy, the paper shows how the NDB diverges from traditional multilateral development banks but also struggles with internal tensions, including gridlock, questions of Chinese influence, and limited accountability mechanisms. I will analyze the cases of the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, and Bangladesh to show how membership expansion strengthens the NDB’s financial and geopolitical reach and complicates its founding identity. The processes of competing logics of attraction, prescription, and strategic alignment exposes the challenges of scaling a South-South institution without diluting its commitments. Ultimately, the NDB’s trajectory highlights the promise of an alternative in global development finance, as well as the persistent risk that, in institutionalizing solidarity, it may replicate aspects of the very system it seeks to transform.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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