The Brandt Line is a way of visualising the world that highlights the disparities and inequalities between the wealthy North and the poorer Global South. Forty years after its popularisation as part of a call for global reform, is the Brandt Line now a misleading way of representing world politics? This article assesses whether the Global South has lost its distinctiveness and coherence relative to the North since 1980. Existing assessments of global inequality do not settle the question of whether the North–South divide remains relevant for international relations because they overlook the most politically significant measures of inequality. Drawing on power transition theory, this article provides a systematic assessment of the North–South divide in terms of levels of economic development, relative inequality, economic power, and political satisfaction. The evidence suggests that the Brandt Line is largely intact. Although the economic diversity of the South has increased and its collective economic power has risen, relative income rankings remain unaltered and the states of the Global South are as dissatisfied as they were four decades ago. Differential growth rates are reshaping world politics without eroding the North–South divide traced by the Brandt Line.

中文翻译：

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四十年后的勃兰特线：南北关系变化越多，他们就越保持不变？

勃兰特线是一种可视化世界的方式，它突出了富裕的北方和贫穷的全球南方之间的差距和不平等。作为呼吁全球改革的一部分而普及四十年后，勃兰特线现在是否是一种代表世界政治的误导方式？本文评估了自 1980 年以来全球南方相对于北方是否已经失去了其独特性和连贯性。现有的全球不平等评估并没有解决南北分歧是否仍然与国际关系相关的问题，因为它们忽略了最具政治意义的措施的不平等。本文借鉴权力转移理论，从经济发展水平、相对不平等、经济实力、和政治上的满足。证据表明，勃兰特线基本上完好无损。尽管南方的经济多样性有所增加，其集体经济实力也有所提高，但相对收入排名保持不变，全球南方各州仍像 40 年前一样不满意。不同的增长率正在重塑世界政治，而不会削弱勃兰特线所描绘的南北分歧。