By Stewart M. Patrick, World Politics Review, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021
Last September, the United Nations marked its 75th anniversary in somber style, against the backdrop of a once-in-a-century pandemic, a deepening climate crisis, geopolitical tensions and antipathy from its most powerful member. A year on, the United States has returned—for the most part—to the multilateral fold. Otherwise, much remains the same. COVID-19 continues its rampage; global warming and biodiversity loss proceed apace; and great power competition stymies international cooperation.
Into this maelstrom steps U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. As world leaders gather in person and virtually for this week’s annual opening of the U.N. General Assembly, Guterres will seek their support for his vision of a “stronger, more networked and inclusive multilateral system,” as outlined in a sweeping new report titled, “Our Common Agenda.”
The report depicts the U.N. as the ultimate foundation for world order, while acknowledging the need to leverage diverse frameworks of cooperation and the capabilities of non-State actors to deliver global public goods and manage the risks of an interconnected world. The document’s diagnosis of what ails the world, and its suggested course of treatment, merits robust discussion and debate.
A year ago, U.N. member states issued a political declaration of principles recommitting themselves to international cooperation. As a follow-on exercise, they tasked the secretary-general with drafting a report on the requirements for effective multilateralism in the 21st century. Guterres made full use of his mandate. “Our Common Agenda” offers an ambitious, if also sprawling, blueprint for a reimagined multilateral system.
Humanity, the report declares, is “at an inflection point in history,” with two paths before it: either “breakdown” or “breakthrough.” The root of this crisis is an erosion of social trust, which has undermined the world’s collective ability to mitigate shared dangers, including the risks posed by emerging infectious diseases, runaway climate change, yawning economic inequality and advanced technologies. “In the absence of solidarity,” the report declares, “we have arrived at a critical paradox: international cooperation is more needed than ever but also harder to achieve.”
To achieve breakthroughs, the document argues, the governments and peoples of the world must renew the social contract binding them, incorporate the interests of young people and future generations into their decisions, and update existing institutions—and adopt new ones—to deliver global public goods and manage risks on our crowded, connected and fragile planet.
The report and its proposals have significant implications for global institutional reform, beginning with the U.N.
The “Our Common Agenda” report implores U.N. member states to consider the interests of today’s youth in a wide array of global challenges beyond war.
The United Nations was founded, of course, “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The “Our Common Agenda” report shares a similar intergenerational focus, imploring U.N. member states to consider the interests of today’s youth as well as those not yet born, but expands the aperture to a wide array of global challenges beyond war. The world, it observes, is now home to more than 1.8 billion young people, 90 percent of whom live in the developing world.
They deserve to be heard and to be given a voice in global governance. The multilateral system must also prioritize intergenerational equity, particularly when it comes to climate change. To encourage long-term thinking, Guterres will appoint a new U.N. Special Envoy for Future Generations, establish a U.N. “Futures Lab” staffed by experts in “foresight,” and push U.N. member states to issue a Declaration on Future Generations.
The report also makes the case for “a new global deal to deliver global public goods and address major risks.” This effort must include improving multilateral stewardship of the four legally recognized “global commons”—the atmosphere, the high seas, Antarctica and outer space—each of which is in deep crisis. In parallel, U.N. member states need to expand their definition and provision of global public goods—or goods and services that benefit all humanity but that are not provided by markets alone.
This is a bold move on Guterres’ part, particularly since there is no consensus on what constitutes a global public good, much less how many there are. The report identifies seven such goods: “global public health,” which the pandemic has obviously undermined; “a global economy that works for all,” as opposed to the unequal, volatile system that exists today; “a healthy planet for its people,” with a stable climate and resilient biodiversity; “a new agenda for peace,” capable of tackling violence at all levels, from nuclear weapons to domestic abuse; a “peaceful, secure, and sustainable … outer space” domain, as opposed to the congested, competitive and contested one that exists today; an open and secure “digital commons” that protects both human freedom and privacy; and “international cooperation guided by international law.”
“Our Common Agenda”proposes practical reforms in all seven areas, to ensure that all nations and peoples get the full benefit of these global public goods. To address future pandemics, for instance, it advocates a stronger mandate and expanded funding for the World Health Organization, a more robust COVAX platform to deliver vaccines quickly and equitably, and a standing mechanism for global health security and preparedness.
To build a more resilient, equitable and sustainable global economy, it recommends that member states adopt a more accurate measure of global wealth than GDP, expand multilateral efforts to crack down on tax evasion and illicit financial flows, and host a biennial summit between leaders of the Group of 20 and the members of the U.N.’s Economic and Social Council.
To end humanity’s “suicidal war against nature,” the report calls on all governments to accelerate their emissions reduction targets, declare a “climate emergency,” adopt and implement carbon pricing mechanisms, expand financing for climate adaptation and the green energy transition, and take dramatic steps “to reverse the catastrophic biodiversity loss the planet is currently experiencing.”
“Where public goods are not provided,” the report warns, “we have their opposite: global public ‘bads’ in the form of serious risks and threats to human welfare.” It calls on U.N. member states to “better define and identify the extreme, catastrophic and existential risks that we face”—an undertaking already well underway at universities, think tanks and foundations—and proposes that the U.N. itself produce a Strategic Foresight and Global Risk Report to member states every five years.
It also recommends that U.N. member states “establish an Emergency Platform to respond to complex global crises,” which could be “triggered automatically … regardless of the type or nature of the crisis involved.” While the latter is an intriguing suggestion, the report fails to spell out how such a body would relate to the existing U.N. Security Council or to explain how and why a single platform would be able to address a heterogeneous array of crises encompassing pandemics, financial instability, cyberwarfare, biological attacks and more.
If the history of previous ambitious U.N. reports—such as “In Larger Freedom,” released in 2005 under Kofi Annan’s watch—is any guide, many proposals in “Our Common Agenda” will be stillborn. Still, Guterres deserves kudos for issuing a visionary document and for laying the groundwork for follow-up. He plans to appoint a “High-level Advisory Board” to help him identify global public goods and the multilateral frameworks needed to provide them.
He will also host a multistakeholder “Summit for the Future” in September 2023, so that U.N. member states can consider more detailed concrete reform proposals. At the very least, Guterres has given the world lots to chew on over the next two years.
Stewart Patrick is the James H. Binger senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of “The Sovereignty Wars: Reconciling America with the World” (Brookings Press: 2018).
This was originally published in World Politics Review, https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/29969/guterres-blueprint-for-the-future-of-united-nations-diplomacy