The Brandt Line gave us the Global North and South. It needs an update.

The Brandt Line gave us the Global North and South. It needs an update.

Historically, things don’t end well when German Chancellors start drawing lines on maps. Could the Brandt Line be the exception that proves the rule? To be fair, Willy Brandt was no longer Chancellor of West Germany (as he had been from 1969 to 1974) when he drew this line. In 1980, a commission chaired by Brandt published a report on international development that introduced the Global North and the Global South as meaningful concepts in public…