MULTILATERALISM
Multilateralism as we know it is in crisis.
by Paul-Simon Handy and Faten Aggad
European Parliament from EU, EU investment budget for 2020 A boost for the climate (48948322222), CC BY 2.0
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Multilateralism as we know it is in crisis and there are several reasons for it. The pandemic just added another layer of complexity to an already disrupted multilateral structure. Some of its institutions have been pushed to the limits of their capacity, others have revealed how ineffective and disempowered they remain. Our multilateral system has been affected and you know what? This is not even bad. It is rather an unprecedented opportunity to renew it and give it a new impetus. Most of the challenges and threats to peace we face today are transnational in nature. We won’t be able to address them without resorting to strong, revisited multilateral norms and institutions.
To achieve this, we will need to be very creative and innovative in order to tap into a wide range of unexplored niches. As we move our attention to prevention and protection of global common goods, new actors will have to be tested as well. Cities for example are one of those actors with increasing significance in our globalized world. Our world is urbanizing and cities happen to be a fantastic laboratory of local solutions to the kind of challenges our global world faces.
— Paul-Simon Handy
The pandemic has also exposed the power shifts that occurred over the years and that have had an impact on the ability of multilateralism to offer an answer to challenges countries face today. Are nations still in control while they seem unable to convincingly engage with the global financial system to provide space to countries that are battling to create fiscal space to respond to the crisis? Now more than ever, we need to move towards an inclusive global system that serves primarily the global common good. It is high time to design new rules that would govern the global rather than the international.
Cooperation will continue to be critical but it is no longer about countries. We accept that the multilateral system will continue to fail and that we need to shift to a new system that also brings under the same umbrella other actors that are extremely critical for the future.
— Faten Aggad
A relapse into nationalism cannot be a vision
Faten Aggad, Advisor to the High Representative of the AU Chairperson on Future Relations with the European Union
Dr Paul-Simon Handy, Senior regional advisor for the Institute for Security Studies
OUR SPEAKERS
Paul-Simon Handy
Dr Paul-Simon Handy is a senior regional advisor for the Institute for Security Studies. He was previously the regional expert of the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic; a position he has held since 2014. He was previously the Division Head for Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis of the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria where he coordinated research in four regional offices across the continent. While at the ISS (since 2007) he also held the posts of Deputy Executive Director and Director of Research. He has been a Guest lecturer with Rhodes University since 2007 and between 2001-3 was a fellow at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science and African Studies from the University of Leipzig in 2005 and has an M.A. in Political Science and German Studies from the Universities of Yaoundé and FU Berlin, 1992. He is an expert on Central and West Africa, and multilateral organisations with a special focus on the African Union and United Nations engagements’ in Africa.
He has published extensively on issues related to governance and state fragility in Africa as well as the AU peace and security architecture and more recently on the foreign policies of selected African countries. He is on the editorial board of the African Security Review, and a deputy director of l’Observatoire de l’Afrique.
Faten Aggad
Faten Aggad is an Advisor to the High Representative of the AU Chairperson on Future Relations with the European Union. She served in different capacities including as an advisor to the Africa Forum, Business Associate at the Maendeleo Group and a consultant for multiple bilateral and United Nations Agencies. She also worked for several think tanks in South Africa and Europe. Faten also teaches annually at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) in Geneva.
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Resources and points of view
NATO Needs to Adapt Quickly to Stay Relevant for 2030, an article in The New York Times
After France’s president said NATO was suffering “brain death,” the alliance sought advice on how to stay vibrant as it faces new challenges from Russia and China.
Cooperation is Key in latest Coronavirus battle, an article in the South China Morning Post
The tough measures imposed by the mainland cannot readily be implemented in Hong Kong, so the government has to adopt a different approach. That involves, as the chief executive acknowledged, “the support and cooperation of the general public”.
Globalization needs rebuilding, not just repair, an article in the Project Syndicate
Policymakers should focus on taking care of global public goods, containing the weaponization of economic relations, and making the international system fairer.
Elders join UN75 Global Governance Forum, an article in the Elders
Held under the banner “the future we want, the UN we need” the virtual event will reflect on the complex challenges facing our world, including cross-border pandemics, climate instability and threats to peace and security.
The future of multilateralism, an article in Global Solutions
The article gives an outlook toward a responsible globalization that empowers citizens and leaves no one behind.
