https://arab.news/cj5mq
The world is on the cusp of a profound geopolitical restructuring, as escalating great power rivalries erode the multilateral structures that have supported the global order since the mid-20th century.
To prevent the international system from sliding into chaos and conflict, those unwilling to accept a world governed solely by raw power must find ways to reinforce today’s debilitated multilateral institutions through informal arrangements and bilateral agreements.
From the end of the Second World War to the early 2010s, multilateralism provided the framework for international cooperation. Though imperfect and often inconsistent, it was the most effective model of global governance ever created. But after more than a decade of continuous erosion, it is clear that the multilateral system as we know it can no longer facilitate collective action.
Without a framework capable of coordinating relations among countries, the alternatives are stark: a world government — an unfeasible prospect — or a steady drift toward anarchy. Multilateralism emerged as the pragmatic middle ground: collective decision-making and binding rules, rather than a single global authority or none at all.
