Crisis of Multilateralism? Challenges and Resilience

This book explores the challenges that multilateralism faces today and questions the idea of a 'crisis' of multilateral cooperation and international organizations. It accounts for the pressures on and power shifts in multilateralism in recent years - such as the war in Syria, the Covid-19 pandemic, challenges for NATO, the erosion of multilateral norms, the transition from Trump to Biden, the rise of China, the post-Brexit European Union, and the mobilization of countries from the South. The authors illustrate the resilience of multilateralism and lessons learned from the WTO, UN Women, International Organizations' Secretariats and global environmental governance. Written in part by members of the Research Group on Multilateral Action (GRAM), this volume argues that 'crisis' should not be considered a pathology but the 'matrix' of multilateralism, which is more resilient than commonly thought. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, global governance, and international organizations.


Auriane Guilbaud is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University Paris 8 and member of the Institut Universitaire de France.
Franck Petiteville is Professor of International Relations at the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies.
Frédéric Ramel is Professor and former Chair of the Political Science Department at Sciences Po Paris.