Title: Renewing the missing spirit of multilateralism
Author: Stefan Priesner
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: 23 April 2026
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Summary: The article argues that multilateralism remains indispensable for addressing global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, nuclear risks and technological disruption, even as it faces growing scepticism and geopolitical strain. It highlights the often-unseen achievements of the multilateral system over the past 80 years, from preventing major conflicts to eradicating diseases and reducing poverty. It calls for reforms to make multilateral institutions faster, more representative and better able to reflect the role of emerging powers like India in shaping solutions for the 21st century.
Quotes: “Much of what multilateralism achieves is apparent in terms of what it has avoided: the nuclear exchange that did not happen, the disease that did not become a pandemic, the war that did not erupt.” “When a problem is global in its origins and global in its consequences, the coherent response must be global in its architecture.” “Multilateralism must be made fit for purpose — faster, more representative, and reinvigorated.”
Comments by Kul Gautam: A fine article in defense of multilateralism by the UN Resident Coordinator in India, Stefan Priesner. I made a similar case in defense of multilateralism and the UN a few years ago in a slightly different context.
Author: Stefan Priesner
Publication: Hindustan Times
Date: 23 April 2026
Click here for the article
Summary: The article argues that multilateralism remains indispensable for addressing global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, nuclear risks and technological disruption, even as it faces growing scepticism and geopolitical strain. It highlights the often-unseen achievements of the multilateral system over the past 80 years, from preventing major conflicts to eradicating diseases and reducing poverty. It calls for reforms to make multilateral institutions faster, more representative and better able to reflect the role of emerging powers like India in shaping solutions for the 21st century.
Quotes: “Much of what multilateralism achieves is apparent in terms of what it has avoided: the nuclear exchange that did not happen, the disease that did not become a pandemic, the war that did not erupt.” “When a problem is global in its origins and global in its consequences, the coherent response must be global in its architecture.” “Multilateralism must be made fit for purpose — faster, more representative, and reinvigorated.”
Comments by Kul Gautam: A fine article in defense of multilateralism by the UN Resident Coordinator in India, Stefan Priesner. I made a similar case in defense of multilateralism and the UN a few years ago in a slightly different context.
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