The New Multilateralism

Multilateral organizations were created after the Second World War with the objective of keeping the peace, promoting development, eradicating poverty, fostering free trade, and catalyzing cross-border investment. Many of them have been highly successful in their missions; some, less so. Most of them have failed in some aspect of their mission for a variety of reasons, ranging from sclerotic and bloated bureaucracies to a lack of funding or an inability to meaningfully reform themselves over time.

What they all have in common are a plethora of challenges that did not exist generations ago, such as globalization and deglobalization, the rise of the digital era, and climate change. All the more reason why it is imperative that they adapt to the new realities efficiently and effectively. The livelihoods and survival of billions of people depend on it. But many of multilaterals are stuck in suspended animation, unable to keep up with the times. If they fail to adapt, they are in danger of becoming irrelevant. Some would say they already are. What is needed is a new operational paradigm.

Two veterans of the multilaterals - Hugh Dugan and Daniel Wagner - take us on a journey through the dynamic landscape in which these organizations operate and provide prescriptions for how they may adapt. Dugan served as US Delegate and Senior Advisor to 11 former US ambassadors to the United Nations, Special Assistant to the President, and Senior Director for International Organization Affairs on the National Security Council. Wagner worked for the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (part of the World Bank Group), is an expert on cross-border risk management, and a widely published author on current affairs and risk management.

Their insider experience incentivized them to provide a roadmap for a new multilateral organization paradigm, to make these institutions better able to address the plethora of challenges they face today, and those that await them, to better serve the world's people.