{"title":"Multilateralism and the Changing World Order","authors":"Amitav Acharya","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198803164.013.43","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This chapter argues that the traditional conception of multilateralism that underpinned the United Nations at its birth is under serious challenge, which comes from a global shift in power and ideas. The hitherto Western dominance of both is rapidly eroding. But the emerging world order is better termed as a ‘multiplex’ rather than a ‘multipolar’ world. The key drivers of change include the growth of regionalism, the proliferation of non-state actors, the decline of the West, the erosion of US primacy, the rise of non-Western powers, and the increasing fragmentation of traditional UN-based global governance mechanisms. In this world, the UN is not obsolete but has to come to terms with rapid and far-reaching changes that call for a new approach to universalism, one that accommodates the conflicting pressures of cultural and political diversity, on the one hand, and economic and functional interdependence, on the other.","PeriodicalId":117675,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2018-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198803164.013.43","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2
Abstract
This chapter argues that the traditional conception of multilateralism that underpinned the United Nations at its birth is under serious challenge, which comes from a global shift in power and ideas. The hitherto Western dominance of both is rapidly eroding. But the emerging world order is better termed as a ‘multiplex’ rather than a ‘multipolar’ world. The key drivers of change include the growth of regionalism, the proliferation of non-state actors, the decline of the West, the erosion of US primacy, the rise of non-Western powers, and the increasing fragmentation of traditional UN-based global governance mechanisms. In this world, the UN is not obsolete but has to come to terms with rapid and far-reaching changes that call for a new approach to universalism, one that accommodates the conflicting pressures of cultural and political diversity, on the one hand, and economic and functional interdependence, on the other.