A Twenty-First Century Concert of Powers – Promoting Great Power Multilateralism for the Post-Transatlantic Era (original) (raw)
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2011
The global order has been in flux since the end of the Cold War. Two fundamental trends are reshaping the international system: Power shifts at the global level are creating a more diverse international order, in which emerging and resurgent players pursue and assert their own interests. While it is not clear whether Western economic, political, and cultural dominance is coming to an end, there is no mistaking the world’s growing pluralism. At the same time, the emerging international concert – or cacophony – is characterized by deepening interdependence. All major (and minor) powers are facing challenges of economic growth, energy security, and environmental sustainability, all of which are intimately interconnected and which no nation can successfully confront on its own. Moreover, the pace at which change is occurring is accelerating, requiring decision makers to move faster at the very time that problems are becoming more complex. This creates a fundamental dilemma as managing t...
A Security Council for the 21 st Century Challenges and Prospects
An increasingly widespread distribution of power has become one of the major trends in today’s globalized world. Alongside this new international architecture under construction, past and present challenges have been accompanied by growing instability in many countries and regions. At the same time, the Security Council, the principal organ of the United Nations with primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, has been repeatedly criticized for both its actions and inactions. Contrary to expectations, the Council still has not delivered on its promise to bring stability to the world. A more representative, legitimate, transparent, and efficient Security Council is of paramount importance to a sustainable future of peace for all. This book is a result of the international seminar “A Security Council for the 21st Century: Challenges and Prospects,” held at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasilia, in 2016, jointly organized by the Alexandre de Gusmão Foundation (Funag) and the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in association with the Pandiá Calógeras Institute, the Brazilian Center for International Relations (Cebri), and the Igarapé Institute. The seminar gathered a diverse range of guests, among them government officials, representatives from national and foreign academic institutions, military, civil society, and the media. One of the main goals of the event was to promote a deeper dialogue on the many roles played by the Security Council and reach out to a larger community of experts with an active interest in the fields of world politics, defense, and security studies. It is hoped that the conclusions arising out of this debate will contribute to a greater awareness of the need to strengthen the multilateral system of peace and security.
The multilateral system’s contribution to peace and security
Literature review: what does recent analysis suggest about the contribution of the multilateral system to international development goals on peace and security? Key findings: The literature broadly suggests that: •As a result of the increasingly complex conflict environments, individual actors are unable to achieve goals on peace and security by themselves. •More joint operations are occurring in order to overcome the challenges posed by complex conflict environments, with joint multilateral action seen to promote more effective and efficient operations. •Organisations such as the EU have stated their commitment to effective multilateralism to address peace and security goals. •Multilateral cooperation between the UN and regional organisations benefits both parties, as regional organisations gain legitimacy and support from a UN mandate, and the UN gains partners that can fill in gaps in its missions and who often know the context in greater detail. •EU-UN cooperation in Kosovo, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Mali are held up as successful examples of such cooperation; as well as joint action in Libya between organisations such as the UN, EU and the Arab League. However, the literature also highlights a number of challenges faced by the multilateral system in contributing to international goals on peace and security. They include: •While top-level cooperation has become increasingly institutionalised this has not necessarily translated into effective coordination on the ground. •Tensions exist in the relationship between the UN and regional organisations, especially the African Union. There is some suggestion that the EU is selective in its support for multilateral operations and that its lack of personnel in UN peacekeeping operations undermines the sustainability of the relationship. In addition there are some fears that working with the UN would undermine other organisations efficiency and capability. There are some fears that the UN would be negatively impacted by associating with some other multilateral organisations such as NATO, as a result the perceived political nature of some of NATO’s actions. •Information sharing remains challenging, especially in relation to sensitive information. •Differences in organisations’ cultures, interests and planning rules; and inter-institutional rivalry, competition and misunderstanding around mandates and roles, make cooperation and coordination challenging.
Beyond great powers: Middle power paths to resilient multilateralism
Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 2022
Set amidst growing global challenges and great power politics, this article asks how middle powers might best promote global collective action. Adopting a historical approach, it explores four case studies on middle power multilateralism in (1) post-1974 UN New International Economic Order; (2) post-1989 Bretton Woods institutions; (3) post-1992 European Union expansion; and (4) post-2003 UN South-South cooperation. These inform a policy framework and an ensuing alternative termed "resilient multilateralism." Adopting a foreign policy standpoint, this alternative entails principles on context specificity, complementarity, consensus building, and non-confrontation. By opening space for global action, it offers a timely approach to countering future shocks and coordination failures—whether wrought through nature or through hands of our own.
From Collective Security to Concert: The UN, G8 and Global Security Governance
… 'Security Overspill: Between Economic Integration and …, 2005
In the post-Cold War, rapidly globalizing, post-911 age, the concert-based G8 system has become, will be, and should be a more effective global security governor than the collective security-based UN system in key issues such as terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This is due to several factors: the G8's inclusive, interlinked agenda embracing security, economics and social cohesion; its seminal mission of open democracy, individual liberty and social advance; its interventionist (R2P-like) principles; its delivery by leaders, who alone can make the required syntheses, tradeoffs and synergies; and the equality of vulnerability among its members.
Chapter 2: The Multilateral Instruments of Security
2009
Multilateralism is not an option, but a necessity, indeed an inevitability for the international community. It is the product of an evolutionary process. Muchkund Dubey, former Foreign Secretary of the Government of India 1 The concept of multilateral approaches to security threats is by no means a new (nor always a successful) one, dating back to the Concert of Europe in the 19th century and the League of Nations after World War I. The post-World War II world marked the foundation of the UN and led to an unprecedented rise in the number of multilateral institutions. It is interesting to note that the definition of multilateralism has not changed much since then, remaining "the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states", as Robert Keohane defined it. 2 John Gerard Ruggie expands this definition to imply that such coordination is based on certain principles, describing the three specific properties of international organisations as indivisibility (costs and benefits), generalised principles (general or universal norms) and diffuse reciprocity. 3 Drastic changes in the international system after the end of the Cold War have profoundly altered multilateral organisations, most of which were created in the 1950s and 1960s. This chapter analyses the major international institutions, examining them against their achievements in promoting a sustainable multilateralism over the course of time and their ability to adapt and operate in a new strategic environment. The following factors characterise the security environment that multilateral institutions operate in, which thus largely influences their activities: The growing interdependence of nations caused by globalisation continues at an accelerated pace, at the same time increasing inequalities and vulnerabilities;