There is no alternative to multilateralism

The year 2025 should be a time of celebration, marking eight decades of the United Nations' existence. But it risks going down in history as the year when the international order built since 1945 collapsed.

The cracks had long been visible. Since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the intervention in Libya, and the war in Ukraine, some permanent members of the Security Council have trivialized the illegal use of force. The failure to act vis-à-vis the genocide in Gaza represents a denial of the most basic values of humanity. The inability to overcome differences is fueling a new escalation of violence in the Middle East, the latest chapter of which includes the attack on Iran.

The law of the strongest also threatens the multilateral trading system. Sweeping tariffs disrupt value chains and push the global economy into a spiral of high prices and stagnation. The World Trade Organization has been hollowed out, and no one remembers the Doha Development Round.