Making Multilateralism Work for a Multipolar Age
By Thorsten Benner
Last month, during the final discussion in my seminar on "The Changing World(s) of Multilateralism“, a student claimed that rising powers are “the unruly teenagers of global governance”. He argued that rising powers oppose established powers just as adolescents routinely rebel against the rules set by adults. This remark did not come from a patronizing European or American but from an Indian student. Indeed, upon closer inspection much of the debate on the role of rising powers such as Brazil, China, and India in global institutions seems be informed by this adolescent-adult analogy. A number of liberal internationalists argue that rising powers can be “socialized” into becoming “responsible stakeholders” of the existing global order – just as adolescents can be turned into responsible adults. Realists disagree about the prospects for socialization and argue for balancing or containing the growing up of potentially dangerous new powers. Other defenders of the liberal international order such as former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castañeda argue that the newbees are not “ready for prime time”. He contends that “the possible accession of Brazil, China, India, and South Africa to the inner sanctum of the world´s leading institutions threatens to undermine those institutions´ principles and practices” and thereby “weaken the trend toward a stronger multilateral system and an international legal regime that upholds democracy, human rights, nuclear nonproliferation, and environmental protection”. Therefore established powers should not invite the newcomers to the front seats in the global institutions yet – first these countries have to grow up and change their principles and attitude.
If we want to give multilateralism a chance in the multipolar age, we need to move beyond these approaches. Devising policy on the basis of the adolescent analogy will not lead to success. Rising powers won´t simply be socialized into the existing order. Raw balancing and containment will only weaken global institutions. And excluding rising powers from the high table of multilateralism is self-defeating. It breeds resentment – and it makes it only less likely that rising powers will do their share to tackle cross-border challenges. Established powers should treat the new powers like adults – with equal rights and responsibilities in global governance. At the same time, those who care about effective and accountable global governance should not harbor any illusions about the contribution of rising powers. Castañeda is certainly right in pointing out that rising powers often fall back on the “rhetoric and posturing of bygone days, invoking national sovereignty and nonintervention, calling for limited international jurisdiction, and defending the application of different standards to different nations” (a characterization that also fits the majority of the US Congress and US administrations over the past decade). And many find the fact that many rising powers claim large power rights while continuing a “Global South” solidarity and developing country rhetoric rightfully irritating. Oxford academic Andrew Hurrell explains this duality by “the tension between an aspiration to international influence and a continued sense of vulnerability, and to the difficulty of having to defend oneself against an increasingly intrusive world that challenges older established national ways of acting and thinking.” Whatever the reasons, rising powers can´t have it both ways. If they claim aspiring power rights, they also need to fulfill the responsibilities and go the extra mile in terms of contributing to global public goods. This is what “joint stakeholdership” in global governance is all about.
For the “old” powers such the US and the EU, treating rising powers like adults also means pointing to areas of normative disagreement and standing up for the values of human rights and democracy. With non-liberal countries such as present-day China this will continue to be the source of much friction. But there is also disagreement with rising powers that aspire to be liberal democracies. Brazil for example at times shields autocracies by not voting for human rights resolutions, as was recently the case with a resolution on Iran. Brazil´s president-elect Dilma Rousseff has promised a reversal of this position. All those who care about human rights should hold her government to account for making good on this pledge.
For established powers, a more competitive global arena should not be an excuse to not honor on their own pledges to contribute to global governance. Established powers need to lead by example. This presupposes a great deal of effective leadership on the part of the enlightened elements of the political class which need to deal with rising populism and parochialism. As Michael Zürn of the Social Science Research Center Berlin has pointed out, in the medium term multilateralism can only be successful as a “societally backed multilateralism”. This presupposes the “the emergence of transnational political communities and transnational communication channels“. To move in this direction, societal links between “new” and “old” powers urgently need strengthening (while not forgetting those societies who do not qualify for membership in global elite clubs such as the G-20). NGOs, academics, think tanks and the media need to play a much more active role here. We need more and deeper discussions on the future of global institutions between established and rising powers – discussions of the sort we have in the GG2020 program over the past year. This will help to jointly think through what contested and often elusive concepts such as justice, fairness and “harmony” can and should mean for global governance. Only then multilateralism will have a promising future against the odds of a messy geopolitical transition.
Thorsten Benner is a co-founder and associate director of the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin which initiated the GG2020 program. He teaches at the Hertie School of Governance which is a GG2020 project partner.
