multilateralism

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the practice of coordinating foreign policy and addressing international problems through institutions, agreements, and forums involving three or more states, based on the principle that shared rules and cooperative norms produce better outcomes than unilateral action or bilateral arrangements; multilateralism underpins the postwar international order constructed around the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and regional bodies such as the European Union; it is contrasted with unilateralism, in which a single powerful state acts according to its own preferences without seeking multilateral authorisation or consensus