Maria João RODRIGUES

FEPS President

Is it still possible to reform global governance? Despite many difficulties – Trumpism in the US and authoritarian trends in other countries, pandemics, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East – the UN Secretary-General launched a forward-looking agenda to reform the United Nations. The first step was a Summit on SDGs last year, but the higher moment occurred in New York on 22-23 September 2024, when the Summit of the Future adopted a Pact for Future. 

The current gap between global challenges and global governance is obvious to all of us. The United Nations system was created from the ashes of World War II, and since then, it has been at the core of global governance. It was able to undertake decolonisation and prevent a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War – mission accomplished. However, this multilateral system is now clearly outdated and perceived as ineffective, not inclusive and unfair.  

The composition of its bodies, notably the Security Council, does not reflect today’s world. The role of civil society stakeholders remains too limited, and that of organised macro-regions – as the European Union or the African Union – is not being used to its full potential. 

This multilateral system is now performing poorly even in the face of glaring emergencies such as the climate, pandemics, hunger, poverty, an AI without rules and hard military conflicts, where basic rules, such as territorial integrity, are not being respected.

Among difficult negotiations on multiple fronts, relevant outcomes were enshrined in the Pact for the Future, but some shortcomings are also visible. 

While the agenda for sustainable development goals (SDGs) – the only consensual multilateral agenda by now – is lagging behind its 2030 objectives, a new significant commitment has been reached on the creation of a larger toolbox of financial instruments. Nevertheless, a real process to implement national strategic plans supported by stronger global initiatives is still to be organised.

A historical agreement has also been reached to define a UN tax convention, but the way to protect tax resources to invest in sustainable development and in poverty reduction is still unclear, adding to a dramatic debt burden which is crippling many developing countries, particularly in Africa.

In the face of the climate emergency, the objective of phasing out carbon emissions, and particularly carbon fuels, was kept, but a stronger multilateral body to conduct the ecological transition is still to be defined, overcoming the effectiveness of the current COPs.

The access to knowledge, education, science and technology is recognised as a key leverage for development. Still, there no agreement has been reached on the reform of intellectual property rights and on the way to promote technological cooperation and co-creation at a much larger scale, starting with green industrialisation and job creation in developing countries. Without this, the current dilemma between climate and poverty in many developing countries cannot be solved.

A global digital agenda has started – finally! – to be defined in order to shape its potential for sustainable development and control risks for freedom and democracy. Nevertheless, there is a clear resistance to building up multilateral bodies governing the digital transition.

These outcomes and shortcomings of the agreed Pact for the Future are the visible face of turbulent confrontation of political forces on the different fronts of global negotiation to prepare for the UN Summit of the Future.

Developing countries are trying to upgrade their voice and representation. Emergent countries, such as India, Brazil and South Africa, are raising the stakes of these negotiations with richer countries, notably using the G20 Club they have been chairing. The geostrategic competition between the US and China is visible on all fronts, notably in the digital one, where both prefer a bilateral framework negotiation to a multilateral one, particularly when dealing with the great game changer emerging now, that is, artificial intelligence.

Last but not least, it was painful to see how Russia tried to block several compromises and the entire Pact with the tactical purpose of paving the way for its longer-term strategic objectives, but was eventually defeated in the plenary by a large majority of member states.

In the meantime, the visibility and clarity of the European Union’s positions remained quite low, reflecting the current situation of transition towards a new political leadership after the recent European elections. That is why it is important that stronger European progressive voices are heard on this world stage in an open dialogue with many other stakeholders across the world.
It was with this purpose that FEPS brought to New York a delegation of high-level experts who prepared in advance the well-recognised book A New Global Deal. Reforming world governance.

Photo credits: UN Photo/Loey Felipe