Global multilateralism faces strain, but new coalitions offer opportunities, experts say

Global multilateralism is under pressure, but the current moment also presents opportunities, according to experts speaking at a Policy Center for the New South event on Friday.

The conference, titled Crisis or Opportunity? Multilateralism in a Polycentric World, explored how international cooperation is evolving amid shifting power dynamics and rising challenges.

Len Ishmael, senior fellow at the Policy Center, opened the session by noting the speed and scope of change in global governance.

Ishmael said the international system is moving through a period of rapid transition, with the traditional liberal world order facing unprecedented tension.

“The global order is under strain. Power dynamics are extraordinarily fluid today,” Ishmael said, adding that countries in the global south, in particular, have been affected by successive crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, trade disruptions, and debt pressures.

Stephan Klingebiel, head of Inter- and Transnational Cooperation at IDOS, addressed the challenges from a northern perspective.

Klingebiel said many Western actors see the current environment as a crisis, pointing to rising nationalist populism, legitimacy concerns in institutions such as the UN Security Council, and the emergence of alternative development institutions like the BRICS Bank.

Klingebiel explained that countries often define multilateralism differently, which complicates efforts to coordinate responses to global problems.

Ishmael said that the global south views the moment differently. Countries in the region are leveraging their growing economic and political weight to increase agency and pursue solutions outside traditional Western-led structures.

Ishmael said south-south cooperation is expanding, and new institutions such as the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization are providing tools for resilience, including development financing, currency swaps, and trade agreements.

Andy Sumner, professor of international development at King’s College London, gave practical examples of these shifts.

Sumner said the Finance for Development Summit in Sevilla showed how targeted, issue-specific cooperation can succeed even when broader multilateral systems are under stress.

The summit produced over 100 initiatives aimed at improving debt servicing in developing countries.

Sumner said that these initiatives create “pockets of effectiveness” where countries can work together on concrete problems, despite wider international tensions.

The experts also discussed the evolving role of middle powers, which are increasingly leading coalitions to address shared challenges.

Ishmael said that countries are adopting multi-alignment strategies, working with multiple partners to secure national interests while contributing to global solutions.

Sumner said that modular, targeted approaches may not solve every problem, but they allow countries to make progress on pressing issues such as debt, development, and climate adaptation.