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What is multilateralism?

A quick primer on international cooperation

August 26^th, 2024

ESPAÑOL FRANÇAIS

United. Determined. Resolved.

These are some of the words that stand out in the preamble to the United Nations Charter. Signed in 1945, the Charter brought to life a new organization through which countries come together to maintain international peace, build friendly relations and solve global challenges.

In short, a new and reimagined multilateralism.

But what exactly is multilateralism? The dictionary will tell you that multi means ‘many’ and lateral refers to ‘side’. So, multilateral means many-sided.

In international relations, multilateral means many sides, or countries, working together to towards common goals. This is in contrast to bilateral, in which two countries cooperate, or unilateral, in which one country or party acts alone.

Finding consensus around complex issues can be challenging, but it stands to reason that treaties and actions in which many countries have agreed can yield more powerful and lasting results, since more people are involved and have an interest in the outcomes.

Two very good examples of this are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2015, all UN Member States signed on to the SDGs as a roadmap to long-term peace and prosperity for people everywhere, on a healthy planet. That same year, the Paris Agreement rallied countries around the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to arrest the climate crisis. It now has 195 signatories.

These and other international agreements represent victories for multilateralism. But no matter how many countries sign on, agreements alone are not enough to bring about the changes needed to secure a better future. That’s why we have various forums and mechanisms for countries to come together, to make decisions and to move forward on international priorities.

Probably the biggest of these forums takes centre stage every September, with the opening of a new session of the United Nations General Assembly.

As outlined in the UN Charter, the General Assembly is where countries meet one another on an equal footing to debate shared challenges, to foster unity, to show determination and to act together with resolve.

UNDP at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly

“The General Assembly mirrors the richness of peoples and nations of the world… It is also an ideal forum for dialogue and consultation where big and small nations seek common ground to achieve their common goals.” –Philemon Yang, President of its 79th session of the UN General Assembly

For problems like climate change, it’s clear that national borders are irrelevant. Regardless of where they originate, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere affect everyone on Earth. Therefore, no country is immune from climate change impacts, and no country can stop global warming on its own.

As technology and travel shrink our world, many other crises that previously might have seemed confined to specific areas are coming into focus as matters of global concern and requiring global solutions. A virus can spread from patient zero around the world in a matter of weeks, and we now have access to information that makes it difficult to ignore suffering at any distance.

The impacts of poverty, for instance, cannot be contained to its immediate geography. Beyond the human rights imperative to act, the lack of opportunities creates desperation that can lead people to migrate to countries that may not be prepared to receive them. Unemployment also can fuel recruitment for extremist groups that seek to perpetrate terrorist violence at home or abroad.

Conflict is another example. A war between two countries can impact global supply chains, creating economic hardship on a worldwide scale. That means countries everywhere have a vested interest in preventing war anywhere.

We live in a hyperconnected world, with ever-evolving interdependencies. No single country, or even region, can address the complex global challenges and crises we face – from public health and climate emergencies to poverty and inequality to conflicts that spill over national borders.

Coordinated collective action is the only way to resolve these problems in a lasting way, as the 2023/2024 Human Development Report emphasized.

“The human toll of mismanaged interdependence is huge – in lives lost or uprooted, in opportunities forgone, in feelings of despair. Aggression, conflict and violence are extreme realities when complex webs of interdependence fester, especially against backdrops of prolonged power imbalances.” –Human Development Report 2023/2024

From ending wars to boosting progress on the SDGs, countries will come together to address the world’s toughest challenges when they convene the 79th session of the UN General Assembly. One highlight is the Summit of the Future, during which world leaders aim to breathe new life into the multilateral approach.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres proposed the summit in his pivotal report, Our Common Agenda, in which he called for a renewal of trust and solidarity between people, countries and generations.

The outcome will be a “Pact for the future” setting out a way forward to strengthen the international system so that it is better suited to tackle the challenges of today and those of the future.

“Humanity has shown time and time again that it is capable of great achievements when we work together. This common agenda is our road map to recapture this positive spirit and begin rebuilding our world and mending the trust in one another we need so desperately at this moment in history.” – Our Common Agenda