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.
This piece makes a compelling case that multilateralism is often judged unfairly because many of its successes are invisible. Its value lies in crises that did not happen, which is difficult to measure, which explains the scepticism it faces.
ReplyDeleteIt is also fair, as Kul notes, to recognise that institutions like the United Nations have played a stabilising role in coordinating global health efforts and providing a platform to manage geopolitical tensions.
That said, reform will have to do a lot of heavy lifting going forward. Saying multilateralism must become “faster, more representative, and reinvigorated” is easy; achieving it is where the real difficulty lies. Power imbalances, veto structures, and diverging national interests are not design flaws; they are inherent to the system.
There is also a deeper question. Could multilateral institutions be reformed to be more capable of acting decisively in a world that is becoming more multipolar and more transactional? If global cooperation increasingly depends on ad hoc coalitions rather than standing institutions, then the traditional multilateral model may need more than reform. It may require reinvention.
Yes, the piece is a strong defence of multilateralism. But the harder question remains whether the system can adapt quickly enough to remain relevant in practice.
I think it is rich the UN Resident Coordinator of India is quoted. Here is an entity that takes 1 % of each grant the UN agency mobilises and spends it any way they want--with no accountability to anyone. I have seen UN RC offices that are the bigger than the entire UN Agency presence in a country in South Pacific. And imagine the relevance of the UN in INDIA - - where the UN budget is far below one percent of the national budget. If the UN left India tomorrow - would anyone notice? The UN needs to be more agile and strategic and present in the places most needed. Why do we linger in places 10 20 or 40 years past our prime? The UNICEF core budget just to exist in any country is 1 million dollars - that is to pay rent and a few core salaries - to do what? Technical Assistance is not the term - what government would pay over 1 million a year to have a Rep, 2 Dep Reps, some Nationals and a driver - of which none of them are specific technical experts but are managers of work processes, projects, grants and answer more to UNICEF dashboards and reporting frameworks? Multilateralism needs a new look for sure - we started the last wave of UN reforms in 2008 - we fiddled with ONE UN Pilots for over a decade and where did we land - a bigger, clunkier and less agile UN. Now with drastic cuts - we may be cutting the best people. Now what do we offer?
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