INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT GSN
- GSN takes pride on the fact that its launch event was attended by the first female Head of the Leicester Law School, University of Leicester and the first female judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
- If compared with activities conducted by other entities within one year of their establishment, GSN conducted the highest number of activities.
- 70% of attendees and participants during GSN activities are females.
- Its the network that engaged with seven constitutional courts of the world within seven months of its establishment.
- Attendees and participants during GSN activities are from different religious, gender, ethnic, nationalities, age, and ideological backgrounds.
- GSN is not only about the Global South. It works towards both South-South and North-South Cooperation.
What is the Global South?
The concept of the Global South is highly contested. It is analogous to other concepts such as “the third world”, “the majority world”, “developing countries”, “low income countries”, or “middle-income countries”. I chose one of these titles for my network just for the sake of understanding. I do not mean places that have been enlisted by international organisations or academics as “the Global South” only. I mean countries sharing non-western conscience and challenges including but not limited to low and middle income economies, unstable political regimes, and deteriorating law and order situation. In this regard, I do not see the Global South as a geographical area or a group based on economic, social, ethnic, or political identities. I see it as an idea, thought, or worldview of strengthening different types of minorities by providing them a safe and judgment-free space for knowledge exchange and bridging the gap between minorities and majorities. I am aware that this understanding is not a perfect but this could be a starting point. Lets understand it more and deconstruct it on our terms through GSN.
Why GSN?
Be it Russia-Ukraine War, the War on Terror, or responsibility to protect, all these issues affect the Global South more than the Global North in terms of increasing violence, inequality, extremism, and instability. Yet, the knowledge about the Global South is produced mostly in, and for, the Global North. Also, the issues of the Global South mostly involve a combination of social, political, historical, and legal factors but interdisciplinary studies on the Global South are limited. In this regard, much has been written on the Global South in general but a forum dedicated to examining interdisciplinary issues of the Global South is not available for practitioners, civil society, judges, policy makers, and teaching and research staff and students. GSN provides this forum by bringing together academics, policy-makers, judges, journalists, civil society and researchers (including postgraduate researchers) from, or focusing on, interdisciplinary issues of the Global South. It aims to promote interdisciplinary research on and enhance international networking among the above groups.
GSN shares an interest on general issues of the Global South with other similar networks in other universities and organisations outside academia. But it extends this by comparing socio-political and politico-legal issues in the Global South, promoting knowledge exchange and sharing good practices within the Global South and between the Global South and the Global North, and engaging with actors outside academia. It has overlapping interests with interdisciplinary institutions on interdisciplinary research and centres and groups with focus on developments in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Middle East, but it adds a new focus on this by explaining politico-legal, geopolitical, and socio-political issues in the non-Western countries of the Global South.
The geographical chapters of GSN go beyond focusing regions to promote South-South cooperation by providing members with an opportunity to organise interdisciplinary and comparative collaboration on shared social, political, and economic challenges of different regions.
My vision
My vision is to empower people from, or focusing on, the Global South (the Global Southerners). What do I mean by empowerment? There are two stakeholders in a football game: players and spectators. By empowerment, I mean let the Global Southerners become players, not just mere spectators. They should be able to decide how their cultures, civilisations, histories, institutions, and politics are looked at on their own terms. They should lead, not mere consume, the process of knowledge production on issues related to their jurisdictions. I am aware that this will take time but for this to take place the establishment of GSN was the first step.
“PLAYERS, NOT SPECTATORS”
-Dr Nauman Reayat, Convener GSN.
I wish to achieve the above empowerment by decolonising knowledge about the Global South. I believe the knowledge about the Global South is colonised by some individuals, groups, and organisations that are beyond the control of the Global South. By colonisation of knowledge I mean the control over the process of knowledge production, the projection of knowledge, and its dissemination. By decolonisation of the knowledge I do not mean to mere include studies written by scholars from the Global South in any field of knowledge. In addition, I see decolonisation as the transfer of power to produce , project, and disseminate knowledge about the Global South from the Global North to those living in, or are from, the Global South. I believe this transfer empowers people from, or focusing, on the Global South. Knowledge exchange and sharing good practice on the issues of the Global South is a step towards this empowerment.
But how to decolonise knowledge about the Global South? I wish to do so through GSN. It provides scholars focusing on the issues of the Global South with a dedicated interdisciplinary forum where they can exchange knowledge and share good practices on interdisciplinary issues of the Global South (e.g. the politics of human rights and wrongs, the rule by law, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ governance, civil dispute resolution, political economy, women empowerment, etc.). In the long run, GSN envisions to contribute to internationalisation by reaching an understanding with higher education institutes (HEIs) in the Global South and to diversity by increasing the recruitment of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, exchange students, policymakers, civil society representatives, practitioners, and visiting researchers from the Global South.
In summary, decolonisation is not an end in itself. It is a means to achieve other ends. What are those ends? One of those ends is the empowerment (discussed above). I personally believe decolonisation without empowerment is meaningless. Without empowerment, decolonisation sounds more like a hollow slogan or a melodious song that could entertain people but can’t heal their wounds.
“Decolonisation is not an end in itself. It is a means to achieve other ends”
— Dr Nauman Reayat, Convener/Founder GSN
Our commitment
I and this network are committed to the empowerment of people from, or focusing on, the Global South through knowledge exchange and sharing good practices on the issues of the Global South. If you share our commitment or interested in South-South or North-South cooperation, GSN is the best place for you.
GLOBAL SOUTH NETWORK (GSN) 