These are fraught times for global treaty-making. Geopolitical tensions, populist impulses, powerful economic forces, and scientific and technological uncertainty vastly complicate negotiations. In 2022, the UN secretary-general complained that multilateralism was under attack, and things have only worsened since then. Despite this, three multilateral treaties have been adopted by consensus in the last two years: […]
Tag: multilateralism
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At a UN Security Council meeting in February, member states referred to the “crisis of confidence in the UN,” a “palpable loss of trust,” “ruinous mistrust,” and an “unprecedented crisis of credibility.” To help us understand whether the crisis of trust is primarily among political leaders or also the broader public, the survey data we have can provide some insight into what the global public thinks about the UN.
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The adoption of the Pandemic Agreement at the 78th World Health Assembly marks a historic milestone in global health governance. It expands the scope for how member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) will address pandemics moving forward. The agreement complements the International Health Regulations and includes language on building health system capacities, the […]
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One of the core goals of the Pandemic Agreement is to tackle global disparities in access to vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments. A key part of this effort involves technology transfer—the sharing of know-how, intellectual property, and manufacturing capacity. To that end, the agreement introduces a set of obligations aimed at shifting from a charity-based model to an end-to-end ecosystem grounded in equity. This article examines how effectively the agreement addresses technology transfer—one of the most contested issues in the negotiations.
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Amid geopolitical fragmentation and rising nationalist sentiment, the negotiations leading to the Pandemic Agreement—which was adopted on May 20, 2025 at the World Health Assembly—have shown that multilateral diplomacy is more difficult than ever—but also more vital. For decades, cooperation on global health was treated as self-evident. The shared logic was clear: pandemics, like the climate […]
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Juan Manuel Santos is the former president of Colombia and recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. He now serves as chair of the Elders, a group of independent global leaders founded in 2007 to work toward peace, justice, human rights, and a sustainable planet. In this interview, President Santos shares his thoughts on the […]
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Governments worldwide have incorporated algorithmic decision-making into functions ranging from policing to welfare distribution, border control, and resource allocation. These political machines—AI systems used to support or automate government decision-making—are becoming central to contemporary governance while operating largely outside public scrutiny.
This transformation represents more than a technological upgrade to government operations; it marks a fundamental shift in the relationship between citizens and the state. As political machines increasingly make or inform decisions affecting people’s lives, questions of citizen participation will become an urgent concern for multilateral organizations, civil society, and institutional stakeholders.
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The new 2024 Multilateralism Index uses 45 indicators to assess changes in multilateral cooperation over the past decade (2013–2023) across five domains: What does it tell us about recent trends in multilateral cooperation, and how might these trends shift under a second Trump presidency?
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In this interview, Nudhara Yusuf discusses whether the Pact for the Future reflects the priorities of civil society and how to ensure the inclusion of civil society in the UN’s future work, particularly in emerging areas such as the governance of artificial intelligence.
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Youssef Mahmoud talks about the UN’s upcoming Summit of the Future and its Pact as it relates to people and the planet, the role of civil society, and the question of transformative action versus reform to sustain peace. Youssef also speaks to the ways the global majority is asserting its agency in the multilateral system, and the need to decolonize our thinking so as to make it work for everyone.
