[Multilateralism in Action] Multilateralism think-pieces of 2023

Sustainability & Development

In The SDGs have been declared dead – let’s bring them back to life!, Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation argues that if the global community wants to achieve the 17 SDGs by 2030, it needs to focus on money, women, and social protection.

In Using Private Sector Engagement in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to Grow Secondary Carbon Markets to Finance Loss and Damage from Climate Change, Alexandra Soezer and Kate Zabinsky draw on experiences at UNDP to show that secondary carbon markets hold untapped potential for creating funding streams to address Loss and damage caused by climate change. 

In Re-defining State Intervention: Achieving Balanced Decision-Making in Sustainable Finance, Marcos Neto, then Director of UNDP’s Sustainable Finance Hub, showcases how to create robust institutional arrangements to ensure that countries’ financing strategies are aligned with national development priorities, community needs, and the conservation of natural ecosystems.

Mobility & Migration in a Globalized World

In Human Migration needs a New Multilateralism, Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), argues that we will fail to meet the basic human needs of millions of vulnerable people around the world if nations’ only response to migration is to offer refugee protections or return to the country people have left. In Inclusive Global Migration Governance: Embracing Non-State Actors and Cities for Multilateral Solutions, Raphaela Schweiger, global governance expert and director of the migration program at the Robert Bosch Foundation, draws on her new book Beyond States. The Global Compact for Migration and the role of non-state actors and cities (Springer, 2023) to argue that processes of global migration governance must further embrace stakeholder inclusion.

Reigniting Multilateralism 

In Multilateral Cooperation: Are Global Challenges Outpacing Global Unity? Pathways to Reignite Solidarity Towards 2030, Dennis Francis, President of the UN General Assembly argues that today’s challenges concerning climate change, global development, peace, and prosperity are far too great for any single nation to manage alone. Multilateralism can and does work. And it must work faster to ensure that global challenges do not outpace global unity. 

In Can UN Peacekeepers Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time?, Professors Paul F. Diehl, Daniel Druckman, and Grace B. Muelle draw on their book, When Peacekeeping Missions Collide: Balancing Multiple Roles in Peace Operations (Oxford University Press, 2023) to show how different missions impact one another and why it is paramount to consider peacekeeping missions interdependence. 

In The International Civil Servant: Foot Soldier of Multilateralism, Professor Jean-Marie Guéhenno, director of SIPA's International Conflict Resolution specialization and the Kent Global Leadership Program, draws on his experiences as UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping to review the role and responsibilities of international civil servants.

In Multilateralism in an age of crises – Where do countries at the last mile of development fit in?, Habib Ur Rehman Mayar, Deputy General Secretary of the Group of Seven Plus (g7+), draws on the experience of the g7+ to demand more inclusive, representative, and democratic multilateral solutions that are founded on the aspiration of human solidarity.

In United Nations Roundtable Conversations shows the Human Face of Multilateral Cooperation, SIPA students Aurelian Dragos Mohan and Asha Jhanay Richards reflect on SIPA's United Nations Roundtable Conversations that brought together 20 experts from International Organizations and 150 students.

Legal & Institutional Challenges 

In Much Attacked, Still Standing: How the International Legal Order is Attacked and Defended, Professors Heike Krieger and Andrea Liese share insights from their new book Tracing Value Change in the International Legal Order (Oxford University Press 2023) to examine the fate of foundational norms of the international legal order.

In The European Court of Human Rights: Fortress Europe’s Mercurial Gatekeeper, Professor Ezgi Yildiz draws on her new book Between Forbearance and Audacity: The European Court of Human Rights and the Norm Against Torture (Cambridge University Press, 2023) to provide a sweeping overview of regressive and progressive trends at the European Court of Human Rights.

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Professor Daniel Naujoks
Editor, Multilateralism in Action
Director, International Organization & UN Studies 
School of International and Public Affairs 
Columbia University