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International Organizations and Multilateralism

Description

Rhetoric on the crisis of multilateralism is frequent. International organizations (UN, WTO, etc.) remain no less important, while other forums (G20, BRICS, etc.) are asserting themselves.

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Switzerland; Geneva; March 9, 2018; The rows of the United Nations member states flags in front of the United Nations Office in Geneva
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The South versus the West?

Date de publication
05 December 2023
Accroche

In 2023, forums that amplify the voice of the “Global South” have proliferated and grown louder. As contradictory and divided as they may be, these forums (BRICS+, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), G20, the Group of 77, the European Silk Road Summit…) attest to the emergence of new power relations, and especially new directions in foreign policy, with states rejecting alignment with the dominant powers of the past in favor of putting their own interests first. A new world is taking shape, with changeable, still uncertain, contours.

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Decarbonizing European Cities: How to Speed Up and Build Synergies?

Date de publication
27 November 2023
Accroche

Cities are on the front line for enabling governments to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement. Although cities occupy only 2% of the earth’s surface, they are home to between 50 and 60% of the world’s population (70% by 2050 according to the United Nations), account for two-thirds of the world’s energy consumption and emit 80% of CO2. As an example, the CO2 emissions of the city of Berlin are equal to those of Croatia, Jordan or the Dominican Republic. New York’s total annual CO2 emissions are roughly equivalent to those of Bangladesh. Yet their central role not only for adaptation, but also mitigation, has been recognized lately.

 

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COP28: A Tale of Money, Fossil Fuels, and Divisions

Date de publication
16 November 2023
Accroche

“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community. 

The EU, the Indo-Pacific and the US-led IPEF: Which Way Forward?

Date de publication
28 September 2023
Accroche

The paper provides a European Union (EU) perspective on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).

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Europe: Turning to the Union to Respond to Citizens

Date de publication
12 September 2023
Accroche

To deal with the internal and external challenges of a new era, the European Union must reform its institutions: review Member States' right of veto, strengthen the Commission, and take action on foreign policy and security matters, energy, the single market and the economy, social policy, health and immigration—while at the same time considering expansion. This is the only way for the Union to preserve the values of freedom and democracy that underlie European integration.

European Union: A Geopolitical Illusion?

Date de publication
12 September 2023
Accroche

The European Union (EU) is holding firm in the face of the war in Ukraine—perhaps better than expected. But what long-term effects will the war have on European institutions and policies? The institutions will need to be changed to cope with the forthcoming expansions. The EU has certainly made progress toward common industrial and technological policies. But will this dynamic do away with a conception of strategic autonomy, encompassing both diplomacy and strategy? The European Union, which will undoubtedly be a key mover of future changes for the continent, remains largely uncertain in terms of its future configurations.

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France’s Place Within NATO: Toward a Strategic Aggiornamento?

Date de publication
27 June 2023
Accroche

With a rapidly deteriorating security environment, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, internal disputes exploding into public view, and questions being raised about the scope of its security responsibilities, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) seemed to be in dire straits at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

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After Hiroshima: The G7 Summit, Economic Security and the EU-Japan Partnership

Date de publication
20 June 2023
Accroche

Japan and the European Union are increasingly aligned on international economic policies, the product of a similar outlook toward China – concerned without being overtly hostile – and worried about over-reach by the United States.

Türkiye’s Stifled Ambitions

Date de publication
07 June 2023
Accroche

As its elections have unfolded this spring, Türkiye has again shown itself to be symptomatic of the times. Across the world, numerous political regimes oscillate between democratic forms of government and an authoritarian concentration of power; impressive periods of growth give way to inflation and recession; and international deregulation gives rise to widespread diplomacy in an effort to juggle a myriad of shifting political loyalties. Faced with the war in Ukraine, Ankara is playing a strong hand by enlarging its areas of presence and intervention. Türkiye is more important to its partners than ever, independent of its eventual domestic trajectory.

Western discourse predicted the advent of Chinese dominance in the very short term, but events have taken a rather different turn. The drivers that enabled the unprecedented growth of recent decades seem to have run out of steam. Moreover, the outcome of Beijing’s economic strategies is still uncertain, in a context shaped primarily by U.S. policies. China’s influence in the future will be considerable, but the direction its rebound will take remains unclear.

For Europeans, the events in Ukraine and the thorny issue of the Sino-American rivalry cannot paper over the other security problems we face: On what common vision of our history and future will we build the Europe of tomorrow? Has drug trafficking already changed the nature of our societies? Can we afford to turn away from instances of destabilization in Africa, from the Horn to the Sahel?

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Ramses Conference, 2024
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Rows of the United Nations member states flags in front of the United Nations Office in Geneva
© Bascar/Shutterstock