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    Ultilateralism Hat Is The Roblem: and Multilateralism. (United Nations, 2018) 1

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    Kiko Bautista
    Multilateralism involves cooperation between three or more states without regard for any one state's interests. However, recent events have undermined trust in multilateral organizations and globalization. As a result, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. The failure of multilateralism to deliver inclusive growth that benefits citizens has reduced public trust and support for global cooperation. Without addressing issues of inequality, the system of multilateralism faces collapse.

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    Ultilateralism Hat Is The Roblem: and Multilateralism. (United Nations, 2018) 1

    Uploaded by

    Kiko Bautista
    19 views2 pages
    Multilateralism involves cooperation between three or more states without regard for any one state's interests. However, recent events have undermined trust in multilateral organizations and globalization. As a result, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. The failure of multilateralism to deliver inclusive growth that benefits citizens has reduced public trust and support for global cooperation. Without addressing issues of inequality, the system of multilateralism faces collapse.

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    A brief discussion on multilateralism

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    Multilateralism

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    Multilateralism involves cooperation between three or more states without regard for any one state's interests. However, recent events have undermined trust in multilateral organizations and globalization. As a result, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. The failure of multilateralism to deliver inclusive growth that benefits citizens has reduced public trust and support for global cooperation. Without addressing issues of inequality, the system of multilateralism faces collapse.

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    Download as pdf or txt
    19 views2 pages

    Ultilateralism Hat Is The Roblem: and Multilateralism. (United Nations, 2018) 1

    Uploaded by

    Kiko Bautista
    Multilateralism involves cooperation between three or more states without regard for any one state's interests. However, recent events have undermined trust in multilateral organizations and globalization. As a result, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. The failure of multilateralism to deliver inclusive growth that benefits citizens has reduced public trust and support for global cooperation. Without addressing issues of inequality, the system of multilateralism faces collapse.

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    MULTILATERALISM: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

    Multilateralism has been defined as the cooperation of three or more states in a given area
    of international relations.1 It is premised on generalized principles of conduct “without regard to
    the particularistic interest of parties or the strategic exigencies that may exist in any specific
    occurrence.”2 These principles aim to create “predictable actions in… international relations,
    thereby creating a climate of trust, understanding and respect,” ultimately resulting in a “rules-
    based world order which is necessary to address global concerns.”3

    Unilateralism, on the other hand, is a tendency to opt out of a multilateral framework—


    i.e. to act alone or in one’s own interest—without reference to any generalized principles of
    conduct, in dealing with a particular area of international relations.4

    The concept of multilateralism is intrinsically related to globalization, since greater


    transnational economic and legal relationships—with increasing levels of co-dependence—
    require a greater degree of cooperation among states to function. Globalization without a
    multilateral framework tends to lead to imbalance or inefficiency.5 The global Institutions
    underpinning globalization and multilateralism in the 20th century included the General
    Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) (superseded by the World Trade Organization
    (WTO)), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and
    Development (IBRD), and the United Nations and its global agencies.

    However, recent events have seen multilateral organizations such as the WTO and the
    IMF held hostage by inflexible processes and a lack of political consensus on key policy
    priorities relating to globalization.6 Issues in creating political and legal consensus have resulted
    in inefficiencies in global governance and regulation , allowing vested interests the opportunity
    to consolidate their advantage, thus aggravating economic inequalities and driving exclusive
    growth.7 This, in addition to the disruptions resulting from frequent global, regional, and national
    economic crises have led to a significant amount of public discontent, further undermining the
    prospects of globalization and multilateralism.8

    These failings are apparent in today’s “fear-factor politics” where globalization and the
    system of multilateral cooperation is regarded as a “rigged, unfair system.”9 As a result, the

    1 David M. Malone and Yuen Foong Khong, ed., Unilateralism and U.S. Foreign Policy: International Perspectives. (Colorado:
    Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003) 2-3.
    2 John Gerard Ruggie, ed., Multilateralism Matters. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993) 11.
    3 Statement of Yldiz Pollack-Beighle, Foreign Minister, Republic of Suriname, at the 73 rd Session of the United Nations General

    Assembly. Press Release found at https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1021692.


    4 Supra note 1.
    5 United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific, The Role of Asia and the Pacific in Global Governance

    and Multilateralism. (United Nations, 2018) 1.


    6 Id. at xiii.
    7 Id.
    8 Id.
    9 Graham Vanbergen, The Crisis of Trust in Government and Globalisation. (United Kingdom: TruePublica, 2017), available

    online at https://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/crisis-trust-government-globalisation/.
    stated objectives of multilateral cooperation towards global prosperity appear to some states to
    be either falsehoods or neo-imperialistic pandering. The last few years have seen more
    unilateralist views more clearly purveyed in public discourse, with the growing Euroskeptic
    movement culminating in the 2016 Brexit vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European
    Union,10 and US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” platform premised on
    trade protectionism11 and rollbacks on US climate change policy.12 This is unilateralism which
    threatens to drive the world into “a dangerous new era of economic nationalism and
    protectionism that can have catastrophic effects on the world economy.”13

    Where then does this leave the system of multilateral cooperation, in view of the lack of
    trust in foreign states and, even less trust in multilateral bodies composed of foreign states?14

    In 2017, Hans Paul Bürkner, writing for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting,
    wrote that the skepticism about globalization and the multilateral bodies facilitating it was
    premised on one major failing: the failure to deliver inclusive growth.15 Fundamentally, the lack
    of trust in multilateral institutions is the prime driver of populist politics—on the premise that, if
    the town mayor can’t watch over my needs, maybe my community leader can. However, if the
    town mayor in this scenario—the international system of multilateral cooperation—were to fail,
    the results could be catastrophic. After all, “there are still 800 million people… still registered as
    “hungry” … There are still nearly 60 million children… who do not attend primary school. There
    are still around 2 billion adults who do not have a basic bank account.”16 These are issues that
    globalization has helped to address all across the world. But if the people under its protective
    aegis do not feel included in the process of building a better world—if they feel their interests are
    not in fact being answered—the entire premise of globalization is at risk of collapse.

    10
    Taggart, Paul; Szczerbiak, Aleks, The Party Politics of Euroscepticism in EU Member and Candidate States. (Sussex: Sussex
    European Institute, 2001) 7.
    11 Statement of Donald J. Trump, President, United States of America, at the Signing of the U.S.-E.U. Agricultural Trade

    Agreement, Transcript Found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-signing-u-s-eu-trade-


    agreement/.
    12 Amadeo, Kimberly. "Donald Trump's Economic Plan and How It Is Changing the Economy." The Balance. July 11, 2019.

    Accessed August 11, 2019. https://www.thebalance.com/donald-trump-economic-plan-3994106.


    13 Chow, Daniel Chee King, United States Unilateralism and the World Trade Organization (July 9, 2018). Boston University

    International Law Journal, 2019; Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 449.
    14 Supra note 3.
    15 Bürkner, Hans Paul, and The Boston Consulting Group. "What World Leaders Must Do Now to Restore Trust in

    Globalization." World Economic Forum. January 18, 2017. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/01/what-world-leaders-must-


    do-now-to-restore-trust-in-globalization/.
    16 Id.

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