Student Number : 0420292V - MA research report - School of International Relations - Faculty of Humanities / The transformation of the political economy after the Cold War, and particularly the introduction of the knowledge economy and the successful liberation of a group of developing countries, has made a considerable impact on the trading patterns in the global economy. It has also revolutionised the processes of manufacturing, production and consumption. These economic changes have had significant consequences for the countries of the developing world, making the possibility of coalition-building between the countries of the Southern core more feasible, and in this way bringing about fundamental alterations in the political economy of the international system. However, the economic co-operation that takes place in the South is uneven and advances the interests of semi-peripheral states such as India, South Africa and Brazil, giving rise to new patterns of collaboration.