The Rise of Local Political Philosophies in Emerging Powers:Taking Ubuntu in South Africa as an Example

The rise of emerging powers and their local political philosophies has brought about profound changes to the international structure on an ideological level. South Africa is the leading emerging power in Africa. As the core political philosophy that South Africa has been constructing in recent years, Ubuntu attempts to transcend the Western liberal democratic discourse, the Western African discourse and the nation-state discourse, in an attempt to build cultural confidence with African characteristics and to increase the power of discourse in the international arena. The content within the political philosophy of Ubuntu and the concept of a community of a shared future for mankind have a lot in common, which indicates a trend of emerging powers trying to build local political philosophies to surpass the Western political discourse system and to enhance their soft power in global politics.