multilateralism

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the practice of coordinating national policies through institutions and agreements that involve three or more states, based on principles of non-discrimination, generalised rules of conduct, and indivisibility of interests, as theorised by John Ruggie; multilateralism as a principle of international order rests on the idea that rules should apply equally to all members, that benefits and burdens should be diffused across the membership rather than bilaterally arranged, and that member states' interests are sufficiently interlinked that defection from collective arrangements imposes costs on all; the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Paris Climate Agreement are all multilateral frameworks; multilateralism is often contrasted with bilateralism — arrangements between two states — and unilateralism — action by a single state without seeking international coordination; the Trump administration's scepticism of multilateral commitments and its preference for bilateral deal-making prompted intense debate about the resilience of the multilateral order built after World War II

Examples

• The WTO embodies the multilateralism principle by requiring that any trade concession offered to one member be extended to all others under most-favoured-nation rules.
• Critics of multilateralism argue that it enables free-riding and produces lowest-common-denominator agreements that fail to address urgent problems.