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• Universalism, and• International decision-making. 687Central to this approach to international politics has been a mode of action that hasseen the South act as a ‘pressure group’, enabling change in international politicswithout resort to structural power. 688 Now that certain Southern states are able toavail themselves of structural (or material) power, the dynamics of their collectivepolitics have changed.More recently, within the policy and academic circles of Southern states engaged inactivist foreign policies, a view has appeared to crystallise among some sections thatis optimistic about Southern engagement in international crises as being somewhatqualitatively different from that of the North. This perception of difference hasbeen based on the following factors: 689• The ‘awareness’ and greater sensitivity of Southern policymakers to ‘realitieson the ground’;• Partnerships with non-governmental organisations;• Foundations in necessity and innovation (‘demand-driven’), as opposed topurely geostrategic calculations, or ‘national interest’;• Foundations in “principles of solidarity and cultural affinity”, 690 rather thansecurity imperatives; and,• Aid based on “non-conditionality, solidarity, empathy, and sensitivity tomulti-cultural values”. 691‘Southern’ modes of engagement, their proponents argue, should be distinguishedfrom older, ‘Northern’ modes of engagement. They are based on a deeper and moreempathetic approach to the domestic economic, social and political problems ofhost countries. A similar argument was made with respect to ‘Southern aid’ from687 Alden et al., The South in World Politics, 3.688 Ibid., 7.689 Derived in part from Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo de Carvalho, “Brazil’s“Southern effect” in fragile countries”, in opendemocracy, 19 November, 2009. Accessedonline at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/robert-muggah-lona-szab%C3%B3-decarvalho/brazils-southern-effect-in-fragile-countrieson 22 November, 2009.690 Ibid.691 Ibid.266