For multilateralism to work, there must be consensus on what it is supposed to do, and can realistically achieve
The coronavirus hits everybody: because it is a symmetric crisis, there will be no clear winners or losers. The four main global players (the United States, China, Russia, and the European Union) will all emerge internally shaken and economically weakened, but will manage to recover. The poor and the weak, however – people and states – will probably end up even poorer and weaker. Yet, rather than causing major change, the corona crisis seems more likely to accelerate existing trends – negative trends, unfortunately.
This article was first published in the IIEA Expert Voices Publication: The Multilateral Order Post-Covid: Expert Voices, by various authors. Read the article from p. 6-7.
(Photo credit: IIEA Expert Voices)