The Crisis of Multilateralism Is Also an Opportunity

Dr. Henrik Maihack: On 30 June 2026, Germany’s independent South-North Commission on Development was launched at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference. The commission’s two co-chairs, Laura Chinchilla and Olaf Scholz, used the occasion to describe a profound transformation that is underway around the world. They spoke of the world as entering an increasingly multipolar era, one where new centers of influence are emerging and power is becoming more widely dispersed.

At the same time, the challenges we face as a global community are increasingly interconnected. No country can tackle pandemics, foster prosperity, reduce poverty or safeguard the natural foundations of life on its own. As a result, strong international cooperation is becoming more important than ever. Yet some of its mechanisms and institutions are not equipped for a multipolar world.

It is also striking that what is often perceived in the Global North as the “erosion” or “crisis” of multilateralism is seen in some parts of the Global South as more of a historic opportunity to reform international cooperation and bring it in line with today’s realities. This is partly because many countries in the world were still colonized when important multilateral institutions and rules were founded that remain in force to this day.

This makes it all the more important for actors in the Global North to engage proactively with this strong desire to shape the emerging world order, identify opportunities for cooperation, and make the most of them.

The North South Futures Forum (NSFF) is based on the premise that the existing multilateral order no longer adequately reflects global inequalities and shifts in the balance of power. What specific reforms do you believe are needed to make international cooperation fairer and more effective – particularly from the perspective of the Global South?

First, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Global South’s willingness – as diverse as it is – to defend rules-based multilateralism alongside partners in the Global North is contingent on the Global North’s readiness to genuinely reform this system. This pressure is likely to increase further as the Global South’s economic, political and cultural influence continues to grow and the relative influence of the Global North declines.

This calls for constructive responses, not only in the interest of global justice, but also to safeguard long-term peace and prosperity in the Global South and North. The independent South-North Commission on Development established by the German government was intended to provide precisely such an opportunity for dialogue.

Incidentally, it was the very first North-South Commission, chaired by Willy Brandt, which placed particular emphasis on the shared interests between the North and the South in the 1980s.

But commissions alone will not be enough. We need a whole range of different forums that can help us envisage the world of tomorrow and build the trust needed to shape that world and its rules together. The NSFF is one such forum. At a time when some are seeking to realize their ambitions of becoming imperial great powers, it is all the more important for continents or regions without a great power – such as Africa, Europe and Latin America – to have robust multilateral rules in place to protect everyone’s interests. This is something the global majority of small and medium-sized countries, including Germany, depend on.

When it comes to concrete reform proposals, the focus tends to be on the United Nations Security Council or giving more countries a seat at the G20 table. My impression, however, is that for the majority of small and medium-sized countries in the Global South, other issues are even higher up the reform agenda. These include a better-regulated international framework for dealing with rising debt, more effective measures to curb illegal financial flows, and climate policies that ensure a fairer distribution of the enormous costs of the global climate crisis. It is precisely these kinds of issues that the G20 presidencies of Brazil and South Africa, for example, have focused on.

What role can countries such as Brazil, South Africa and India – but also players such as Germany and the EU – play in building progressive alliances for reform in areas such as climate policy, the global financial architecture and international governance?

The G20 presidencies of these three countries have made it clear where their priorities lie and how well these complement each other when it comes to achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), which all UN member states have committed to. Brazil, for example, focused on food security, South Africa on debt and inequality, while India placed the SDGs themselves at the heart of its G20 presidency.

I also found it striking how clearly the South African G20 presidency in particular has highlighted the shared values underpinning international cooperation – at a time when, in many countries of the Global North, there is growing talk of a more transactional approach to international politics in the future. Indeed, this points to a historical constant: value-driven international cooperation has never been the sole preserve of a handful of governments in the Global North.

Looking ahead, it is likely to become even more important to promote temporary issue-based forms of cooperation – including beyond the circle of like-minded partners. This will be essential if we are to tackle global challenges together. At the same time, these new formats should be designed in such a way as to strengthen the UN, not circumvent it. Indeed, developing such formats and, where possible, ensuring that good proposals put forward by previous commissions or high-level panels have a greater impact are among the objectives of the South-North Commission on Development.