Multilateralism and the emergence of COVID-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. Each nation has faced the challenge of the new virus differently according to the seriousness of the situation within the country, its capacities and its experiences.

Many countries have totally or partially closed their borders; millions of people remain in quarantine; schools and universities have postponed their classes; thousands of flights have been canceled and sporting events and shows have been suspended.

Some experts believe that the economic consequences of the novel coronavirus outbreak could include recessions in the US and Europe. Besides, fear and ignorance have generated new xenophobic waves toward the citizens from those countries with a high number of infected people.

Before the emergence of the new virus, across the globe, multilateralism appeared to be in a crisis. In part, this is the result of unilateral actions taken by great powers like the United States, but it is also the product of the rising nationalism in domestic politics across the globe.

Deep down, the problem is that we forget we are residents of a common home, our planet.

But COVID-19 reminds us that there are serious global problems that can only be solved with the support and determination of all countries.

Global problems, such as pandemics, could only be resolved through multilateral policy. In recent years, populist policies derived from a short-range vision tended to espouse the view that the prosperity of each country would depend on placing its interests above the collective good, and that each country could solve all the problems by itself.

Unilateral decisions have jeopardized the global progress achieved in such endeavors as in the fight against climate change, or the poverty alleviation effort. Unilateralism is the doctrine that supposes that the only thing that has value are the executed decisions and not the agreements reached.

Major changes

On the contrary, multilateralism is the best option to face critical problems such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The multilateral system is not a static system of formal and informal norms and organizations, created once and for all. Even multilateralism is not a system that remains essentially unchanged.

Two main changes are now altering the multilateral system.

The first is the trend toward multi-polarity reflected by the rising number of states that act as key players.

The second change is that new types of actors are changing the nature of the playing field.

Regardless of the transformations of the multilateral system, multilateralism is a way to organize relations between groups of states based on principles that shape the character of the arrangement or institution.

Those principles are an indivisibility of interests among participants, a commitment to diffusing reciprocity, and a system of dispute settlement intended to enforce a particular mode of behavior.

Multilateralism requires states to follow international norms and pay more respect to international institutions.

In combating the impact of COVID-19, a multilateralist approach would facilitate the sharing of vital information, the adoption of policies that benefit the whole international community, and the designing of economic plans that favor international economic recovery and rapid scientific advances.

Specifically, governments must take concrete actions such as strengthening the decision-making power of the United Nations, adopting a protocol providing multilateral decision-making regarding such specific problems as border control, and jointly supporting the weak countries so that they can face this crisis more effectively.

The emergence of the novel coronavirus is an excellent opportunity for all countries to bear in mind that, despite our many differences, we all belong to the same homo sapiens.

Hopefully we might realize that the virus does not distinguish between different peoples and that we can better face the challenges if we embrace multilateralism in solving the common problems facing us.

The author is a professor at the School of Social Science and Government, Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico. He has been a visiting scholar at Fudan Development Institute, Fudan University.