The UN at 75: Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Multilateralism

The Roundtable discussion was chaired by Dr. Kim Fontaine-Skronski, Executive Director of IPSA. In her introduction, Dr. Fontaine-Skronski spoke about the crisis in the current multilateralism trade system embodied by the World Trade Organization, a crisis caused by a confrontation between past hegemons and rising economic powers. She mentioned that the increased participation of the emerging countries on the international institutional stage accentuates the conflicts of interests within international organizations. On the one hand, the emerging economies, who became members of the WTO after its creation, wish to modify the terms of cooperation that were decided without them. On the other, for the traditional powers, who want to save the gains registered in post-World War II binding agreements and institutions, renegotiation becomes a site of potential conflict, where balance of power and power struggles are being played out.

Then, Dr. Michèle Rioux, Professor at the Department of Political Science at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and the Director of the Centre d’études sur l’intégration et la mondialisation (CEIM), focused on the need to contextualize multilateralism in today’s world and on the importance to redefine the concepts of market economy, competition and hidden protectionism. She spoke of the new multilateral trade system as being one of complementarity, where the WTO can and should act as an umbrella institution. She also discussed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), protectionism, trade liberalization issues as well as the impact of COVID on global trade.

Dr. Maria Teresa Gutiérrez-Haces, Professor at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), talked about the rule of law by linking it to the multilateral trading system. Dr. Gutiérrez-Haces pointed out that connivance among institutions like the IMF, World Bank and WTO illustrates the collusion between the institutions of the old order, as well as their common reluctance to truly change the status quo. She concluded that as long as multilateral institutions insist that the rule of law be above the people, distrust of multilateralism will continue to grow.

Finally, Dr. Mehdi Abbas, from Grenoble-Alpes University, focused on multilateral trade regulations and discussed how the WTO has become dysfunctional. During thepresentation, the source of the institutional mismatch was explained by unipolar international political economy and hyper globalization, which created the WTO regime in 1995 and its “magic formula”. He also provided various solutions to fix the institutional mismatch including:

• Framing a WTO regime in accordance with the structural institutional and regulatory heterogeneity;
• Opening WTO to institutional experimentation;
• Systematizing flexibilities in any new trade and investment agreement;
• Taking into account social values for collective actions.

The second panel of the conference was chaired by Ms. Valériane Thool, Doctoral candidate in International Law at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Lecturer at Université de Sherbrooke.

The first speaker, Mr. Guy Saint-Jacques, Former Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Climate Change for the Government of Canada, drew a global picture of the environmental global regime, in which China, in his words, “land of paradox”, is playing an important part. Mr. Saint-Jacques explained that as the world’s largest emitter, China produces 28% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, the country also invests in renewable energy and became the world’s largest producer of wind and solar energy.

Dr. Patricia Iglecias, Professor at the University of Sao Paulo and CEO of CETESB, an Environmental organization of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, discussed the environmental governance and climate change issues in her country. The organization’s main mission is to ensure the improvement of the quality of the environment to meet the expectations of society in the state of São Paulo. She also mentioned the São Paulo Environmental Agreement 2020, which aims to foster public-private partnerships to increase the sustainability targets.

Dr. Walter Arévalo-Ramirez, Principal Professor of Public International Law at the Universidad del Rosario, Colombia, was the last speaker of this panel. Dr. Arévalo-Ramirez highlighted the Indigenous rights issues in Latin America, and particularly in Colombia, and their underrepresentation at the international level including in the UN bodies. He suggested that local communities and indigenous groups should be given more rights and be part of the decision-making process at the multilateral level.

The last session of the day was presided by Dr. Céline Castets-Renard, Full Professor at the University of Ottawa and Chair holder Accountable Artificial Intelligence in a Global Context, uOttawa.

In his keynote address, Dr. Rohinton P. Medhora, President of the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), raised the need for an international agreement or statement for technology to define essential values, ethics and qualitative issues as well as an umbrella organization to regulate problems. He also recommended that local governments should update their taxation regulations to get revenues from multinational digital platforms to support the public’s needs.

The last Roundtable discussion of the conference was chaired by Dr. Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Professor at the University of Alberta, IPSA Vice-president and Chair of IPSA’s Research Committee on Migration and Citizenship.

After Dr. Abu-Laban’s introduction, Dr. Virginie Guiraudon, Senior Researcher at the Conseil national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) discussed the migration issue and the impact of the pandemic. Dr. Guiraudon described the mass reverse migration resulting from the pandemic and highlighted the concerning situation in the Gulf countries as migrants lose their jobs. She also reflected on the role of the UN during this global challenge. Dr. Guiraudon argued that the UN provides logistical solutions (e.g. support for refugee camps) to manage geopolitical problems that it cannot solve on its own. However, over the years, the UN has established expertise at setting agendas through the creation of committees and conventions.

Next in the line-up was Dr. Emnet Gebre, Researcher and International Consultant on the Protection of Migrants from Ethiopia, who gave a speech titled “Migrants’ Protection & Assistance in the Face of a Changing World”. Dr. Gebre drew a global picture of the state of migration around the world. She explained that migrants are more and more vulnerable during their migration journey since they face greater obstacles in accessing protection as well as hardship, trauma and loss of life. She also highlighted the lack of effective cooperation at the international level due to divergent state interests and a highly heterogeneous world (especially in the North-South context).

Dr. François Audet, Director of the Montreal Institute of International Studies (IEIM) and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Observatory of Humanitarian Aid and Crises (OCCAH) then shared his perspective on how to decolonize the humanitarian aid regime. Dr. Audet pointed out that humanitarian organizations are predominantly run by Western nationals and their HQ’s are in the northern hemisphere. To change this approach, he suggested that new scientific debates, concepts and partners are needed.

The panel was chaired by Mr. Kyle Matthews, Executive Director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), Concordia University, who previously worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Southern Caucasus, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Switzerland, as well as for CARE Canada where he managed various humanitarian response initiatives and peace-building projects in Afghanistan, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Dr. Christopher Isike, Professor of African Politics and Development at the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria and Vice-president and Special Representative for Ethics at IPSA, gave a speech titled “Multilateralism, International Relations and the Fight against Racism”. Dr. Isike stated that in discussing the place of multilateralism in the fight against racism and global racial inequality, two main points need to be considered: (a) Multilateralism is an approach to international relations (IR) and (b) IR itself is built on racism. Therefore, using multilateralism as a tool for fighting racism will also require challenging the racist origins of IR and the racially unequal system of states. Dr. Isike offered three suggestions to use multilateralism as a tool to fight racism:

• The democratization of the UN Security Council and giving voice to the representatives of all continents of the world. Moreover, one or two African languages should be adopted as official languages of the UN;
• The inclusion of analyses of race, racism, colonialism, and paternalism in the study of the international and present-day North-South relations;
• The contribution of the Global South: The UN can support scholars from the Global South to give practical expression to its commitment toward a more equal world by giving equal consideration to international relations theories and practices from the Global South.

Ms. Rasha Jarhum, Co-founder and Director of the Peace Track Initiative and Scholar at the Human Rights Research and Education Center at the University of Ottawa, talked about the Peace Track Initiative and its activities to promote peacebuilding in Yemen and the MENA region (the Middle East and North Africa) through amplifying the voices of women, youth, and civil society organizations. As a feminist organization working in Yemen, the Peace Track Initiative aims to protect women and promote peace in the region. The organization also helps families provide food and shelter and contributes to the peace process and negotiations locally and internationally, especially at the UN level.

The last session of the day started with the introduction from Ms. Caroline Richard, President, United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC)-Québec.

In his address, The Hon. Bob Rae, P.C. C.C., Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, reminded of the necessity of upholding the rule of law in international relations and emphasized the importance of multilateral institutions in facing global problems including climate change and the COVID pandemic. The pandemic served as a reminder that issues with health, economic and humanitarian components demand international cooperation to protect public health.

Ambassador Rae also touched on Canada’s efforts on the international stage. The Government of Canada supports many multilateral development institutions, global initiatives and international humanitarian assistance organizations, including the Commonwealth of Nations, NATO, La Francophonie, WTO, WHO, UNAIDS, the World Food Program. As a major player and significant power on the international scene, Canada has no choice but to join in these multilateral organizations.

The keynote was followed by a Q&A session managed by Dr. Stéphane Paquin, Full Professor at École nationale d’administration publique (ÉNAP) in Montréal, and the Director of Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur les relations internationales du Canada et du Québec (CIRRICQ). Trump’s new foreign policy doctrine and the US withdrawal from international treaties and organizations were among the discussed topics. Ambassador Rae outlined that the US presence is very important and the US doesn’t have any interest in pursuing an isolationist policy.

Finally, Mr. Marcello Scarone, President of the United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC)-Greater Montréal thanked The Hon. Bob Rae and the participants.

The conference ended with the concluding remarks of the IPSA President Dr. Marianne Kneuer who pointed out that one of the main issue that stood out in the three days of discussions is the need to take into consideration “Values” in rethinking the multilateral system, to bring back “People” into the process of reviewing and renewing international institutions, and to redefine/or better define “Common Objectives”. Whether it be Environmental Governance, Human Rights, Trade, and even the regulation of new technologies, the human value needs to be at the top of the agenda.

Another important point that stood out is that today’s multilateralism goes beyond the inter-state or inter-nation model, and involves multi-stake-holders. New actors on the international stage, cities, corporations, civil society groups, non-governmental organizations, all have a necessary and complementary role to play in global cooperation.

After thanking the speakers, chairs, partners and collaborators as well as the organizers of the conference, Dr. Kneuer finally invited the participants to the 2021 IPSA World Congress of Political Science, which will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, next July.