The Covid crisis, an opportunity for a “new multilateralism”?

By Mario Telò*, professor of international relations and Jean Monnet Chair, at the Free University of Brussels (ULB), LUISS-Rome, Macau and visiting at CFAU-China and FGV-Rio. Le politologue Mario Telò revient (dans un article en anglais) sur la crise actuelle du multilatéralisme, l’inscrit dans la possible réforme des Nations Unies et s’interroge sur l’émergence d’un nouveau multilatéralisme qui pourrait être mis en oeuvre par des organisations régionales et notamment l’Union européenne. The Covid-19 crisis has shown the dramatic discrepancy between the scale of the current transnational challenges (public health, climate change, security, financial stability, extreme poverty, sustainable development, terrorism…) and the weakness of global governance. This gap was visible even before, but became evident in 2020. Simply defending the past multilateral legacy is no longer a serious option for any progressive force. But this unprecedented crisis could provide an opportunity for a large mobilisation of social and political actors, experts,