For the first time since 1999, the G20 is taking place in an environment that no longer belongs, economically, demographically or historically, to the exclusive sphere of influence of the West.

For the first time in its history, Africa is poised to become the nerve centre of global governance. From 22 to 24 November 2025, Johannesburg will host a meeting of the heads of state of the Group of Twenty (G20) world economic powers, whose scope goes far beyond the traditional framework of economic summits. At a time when the Western world is faltering under the weight of its own contradictions, this crucial meeting highlights the irreversible rise of a polycentric world in which the powers of the Global South are rewriting the rules of the game. Between geostrategic rivalries, systemic restructuring, and the assertion of new sovereignties, this summit could seal the founding act of a profoundly transformed world order.

A summit that establishes Africa as the centre of gravity of a polycentric world order

The twentieth G20 meeting in Johannesburg is an unprecedented event. For the first time since the forum was created in 1999, an African country is hosting leaders representing 80% of global GDP and nearly two-thirds of the world’s population. This shift in the centre of decision-making towards the Southern Hemisphere is not insignificant. It symbolizes the gradual shift from an international system historically shaped by the Euro-Atlantic powers to a polycentric architecture in which the Global South now imposes its priorities, narratives, and timelines.

By placing its mandate under the motto “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”, South Africa is placing the G20 on a path of structural transformation marked by the expansion of economic governance, the correction of systemic asymmetries inherited from the 20th century, the recognition of the geo-economic weight of emerging countries, and the rehabilitation of national sovereignties in monetary, industrial, and technological affairs.

From a diachronic perspective, this summit is part of a sequence that began with three strategic turning points: Pretoria’s accession to the BRICS in 2011, the group’s expansion in January 2024 with the entry of six new members, and the general refocusing of global trade flows towards the Asia/Middle East–Africa–Latin America axis.

Synchronically, the 2025 edition of the group’s summit in Johannesburg reflects the tension of a historic moment when the Western world, now in the minority and weakened by a decade of internal crises – prolonged inflation since 2021, political fragmentation of the EU, loss of diplomatic influence in Africa and the Middle East – is seeking to preserve a centrality that is no longer guaranteed.

It is precisely this contrast between a rising Global South and a Euro-Atlantic bloc oscillating between preservationist reflexes and strategic reorientation that gives this twentieth meeting of the group its exceptional significance. Washington’s decision to send J.D. Vance (Vice-President) in place of President Trump, who publicly expressed reservations about Ramaphosa (South African President) in 2024 and 2025, illustrates this new distance. It also reflects the caution of an American administration faced with a shift in the balance of power, particularly on a continent where its influence has clearly declined since the gradual withdrawal of French operations (Serval, Barkhane, Takuba, etc.) in the Sahel and the diplomatic rebalancing of several key states, which has seriously affected the institutional and operational functioning of AFRICOM.

In this context, South Africa appears to be a strategic crossroads. A member of the G20, one of the pivotal powers of the South, and a continental leader in multipolarism, it is transforming its traditional role as an intermediary into that of architect of an expanded world order. Johannesburg is thus becoming more than just a place; it is a laboratory for international plurality, a space where the coexistence of competing but interdependent development models is negotiated.

Signs of an irrevocable multipolarity in the international system

The announcement of the Russian delegation, led by Maxim Oreshkin (deputy chief of staff of the Presidential Executive Office and a key figure in the Kremlin’s economic policy-making), reveals Moscow’s desire to fully engage with the G20 despite the geopolitical tensions that have marked the post-2022 cycle. Accompanied by leading economic and diplomatic officials such as Denis Agafonov (Director of the Presidential Expert Directorate), his deputy Svetlana Lukash (Russia’s Sherpa to the G20), Alexander Pankin (Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs), and Ivan Chebeskov (Deputy Minister of Finance), Oreshkin represents a Russia that is no longer on the defensive but in strategic alliance with the nations of Asia, the Gulf, Latin America, and Africa.

While Vladimir Putin’s non-participation reflects important obligations, it in no way reduces Russia’s influence within the G20, especially as Moscow maintains growing trade momentum with several European states (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic), confirming that the global economy is now evolving within a multipolar framework where political alignments coexist with economic interdependencies that are difficult to neutralize.

Russia’s involvement is part of a long-standing movement to integrate non-Western powers into systemic decision-making. The creation of the BRICS Alliance, the rise of alternative development banks, and the emergence of strategic corridors such as the North-South Transport Corridor and infrastructure connected to the Belt and Road Initiative are clear examples of this movement.

In this reshaped landscape, the G20 summit in Johannesburg is acting as an accelerator for strategic realignments. It offers Russia a platform to consolidate its energy, agro-industrial, and technological partnerships with Southern countries, but also to promote, alongside India and China, a multipolar paradigm based on the diversification of value chains, the protection of national sovereignties, and the rejection of the unipolar hierarchies inherited from the post-Cold War era.

It is precisely this dynamic that is causing reluctance in Washington, London and Brussels, where the rise of polycentrism is perceived less as a structural evolution than as a direct challenge to their historical position. The Western diplomatic response – cautious, sometimes distant, as evidenced by Trump’s stance – is not a sign of disinterest but rather a forced repositioning in a system that they can no longer shape alone. Johannesburg will thus highlight not only the crisis of Western centrality but, above all, the rise of a multipolar world order, in which several poles – Eurasian, Asian, African, and Middle Eastern – negotiate on an equal footing.

From the above, we can deduce that the meeting of G20 heads of state in South Africa will therefore be a pivotal moment when an already established reality will be publicly acknowledged: the world is no longer unipolar, it will not be bipolar, it is now multipolar, and it is Africa that will serve, for the first time, as the global stage for this transformation.

Mohamed Lamine KABA, Expert in geopolitics of governance and regional integration, Institute of Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pan-African University. Courtesy

https://journal-neo.su/2025/11/21/the-20th-meeting-of-g20-heads-of-state-in-johannesburg-heralds-a-shift-towards-a-multipolar-order/