The post-1945 development order, anchored by the Bretton Woods institutions and the UN system, was designed for global stability and reconstruction. Over time, however, rising Global South voices and geopolitical shifts strained that order. In the 1970s, newly independent states (through the Non-Aligned Movement and G77) pressed for a New International Economic Order (NIEO), demanding reforms of trade, finance, and even the Bretton Woods rules to better serve developing countries.

The DRC produces over 70% of the world’s cobalt and holds around half of global cobalt reserves. Yet for decades, Congolese communities saw little benefit from this geological bounty. As EV demand surged, so did cobalt prices, breaching $90,000 per ton in 2018 before a market crash the following year. These boom-bust cycles have whipsawed Kolwezi’s miners and the DRC’s economy, illustrating the precarity of Africa’s role in raw material supply.

Brexit marked the culmination of decades of British skepticism toward European integration, forcing Britain to reinvent itself beyond Europe