India, March 24 -- In the 1960s and 70s, post-colonial States - India playing a paramount role - launched an ideological movement known as the New International Economic Order (NIEO), which emphasised economic redistribution, solidarity among the Third World, and substantive (not just formal) equality of nations in economic matters. It was a gallant pushback against the West-dominated international economic order, which retained the remnants of imperialism. While the NIEO movement lost steam in the 1980s and 90s due to the emergence of a neoliberal consensus, it did manage to blunt some of the sharp edges of the West-dominated economic order.

Today, we are witnessing a new NIEO moment, this time launched by the US because of its disencha...