Multilateralism to universalism

The dominant philosophy of global system and cooperation is based on the principles of multilateralism at this point of time. It was adopted after the World War-II. Liberal forces of the West propagated and advanced the programmes to ensure implementation of the philosophy. A number of institutions were created in the fields of economy, security and politics. United Nations was established to ensure durable peace. A good number of agencies like UNDP, Unicef, Unesco etc. were formed under the auspices of the UN. The agencies continued to grow and new agencies were created to tackle new issues like UNEP, UNFCCC etc. with the objective to foster human development and protect the human rights.

Simultaneously, financial and development institutions were also founded. International Monetary Fund (IMF) came into being to build a rule-based monetary system. The purpose was to avoid unnecessary tug-of-war among the currencies and sustain a healthy monetary system. The World Bank was assigned task to take care of poverty and provide assistance to countries for sustainable development. It was required to offset the havoc the World War-II played. It was considered necessary to rebuild the economies for sustainable peace.

Unfortunately, these organisations could not fulfil their promises. Rather, they became source of power and powerful countries started to exploit the weak countries. These organisations could not protect small or weak countries from the wrath of strong nations. The powerful countries further strengthened their role and influence by creating new power groups like G-20, G-7, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) etc.

Small and weak countries tried to follow the suit and created their own organisations like ASEAN, SAARC, G-77+China, African Union etc. with the purpose to protect their interests from the strong countries or groups. Although, these organisations are multilateral in nature but have varying preferences and influence. It further divided the world into blocs.

Cold War-era politics also severely impacted the world, especially welfare of the people. On the one hand, the world was facing the wrath of liberalism and on the other Brezhnev Doctrine was in practice. Although, both the systems were talking about human rights and development but they created problems for the people. The systems created winners and losers.

However, the humanity was and is the biggest loser. People were/are suffering all over the world. The USSR led invasion of many countries, including Afghanistan, which proved their last adventure. The US continued its invasion of countries, including Vietnam. Although, it ended with a shameful defeat, the US and allies did not learn the lesson and continued to attack countries (Afghanistan, Iraq) with different accuses. Dissolution of USSR created an illusion for the US and its allies that world had become unipolar. They started introducing new doctrines like End of History, New World Order etc. and means of punishing and killing of people. The most favourite tool was economic sanctioning. They used it ruthlessly and killed innocent people. They also invaded many countries in the name of democracy, human rights and terrorism. They killed hundreds of thousands of people in the name of human rights.

In a nutshell, the multilateral system, which was devised to bring durable peace and prosperity for humanity by adhering to the liberal values, is miserably failing. Now, the people question the very existing of this system. It is being pointed out that the falling global rule-based liberal order was neither global nor rule-based and liberal.

A deep dive into data and facts revealed that major reasons of failure are lack of adherence to principle of universality and rule of law. Power groups took over the decision-making and steer the system to fulfil their objectives. Small groups within the system started to emerge as power houses like UN Security Council etc. Voting rights of the IMF and the World Bank effectively consolidate the control of powerful countries. The voices of marginalised countries were ignored and small groups imposed their decisions on the rest of the world.

Thus, there is a need to create a fair, rule-based and human-oriented system – a system which discourages grouping on the basis of economic and other interests. A system is needed which respects diversity of culture, religion, governance, social life which does not believe in exporting governance or economic systems or self-claimed best values. Southern leadership also echoed the same in their speeches at the UN General Assembly and other forums. They specifically talked about respect for all without considering their economic status. As, President Xi said, there should be no bullying of anyone by anyone.

In this context, there is a need to move one step ahead from multilateralism and world should work to create universalism with characteristics.

However, universal system should be built by learning from weak and strong points of the multilateral system. Moreover, it must be based on the principles of equality, respect for diversity and rules.

There should no veto rights or unequal voting rights, everyone must be treated equally. If the world succeeds in achieving this system, it will pave a way for sustainable peace in the world with shared future.