Towards reinventing multilateral institutions

(Mains GS 2 : Effect of Policies and Politics of Developed and Developing Countries on India’s Interests, Indian Diaspora.)

Context:

• In the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, the world has imposed some of the most wide-ranging sanctions seen in recent times to isolate Russia but the international world order has failed to prevent the war.

For peace and development:

• The international order, created in 1945, rested on certain assumptions and obligations so that the international order would prioritise peace and development.
• For this priority, the International community not only formed the United Nations (UN) as a universal institution, but the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO) as three pillars to sustain the peace and to provide mankind with a framework for sustainable development.
• The first jolt to this vision came with the Cold War in 1946 when Winston Churchill’s speech at Fulton, Missouri talked about the “Iron Curtain” descending on Europe.

Collective failure:

• When the Cold War ended, and the Berlin Wall came down, and the Soviet Union dissolved itself, there was an expectation that the world would go back to the vision of 1945.
• But unfortunately, the U.S. and NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] chose a path of containment and confrontation with Russia, which began to react to this after NATO planned to include Georgia and Ukraine.
• After endorsing the Minsk agreements, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) not enforcing it reflects the failure of the UNSC and the failure of European powers, which are equally responsible as the U.S. for carrying on with NATO in the 1990s.

Violation of charter:

• The violation of the territorial integrity of states and the sovereignty of states is one of the principles which binds the UN.
• But Indians are one of the first victims of the violation of this principle in January 1948 when our territory was occupied by Pakistan.
• Thus, the Ukraine crisis should actually act as a catalyst for the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to agree on convening a general conference to review the Charter, because if there are issues with the veto, this is the place with the legal framework to do it.

Consistent abstentions:

• Many experts believe that India’s consistent abstentions at the UNSC, the UN Human Rights Council and the UNGA behove India’s aspirations as a global leader.
• The Russian invasion is wrong by every principle of international law but the only lasting principle in foreign policy is the principle of national interest.
• But India’s abstentions are in India’s interest as India chose  abstain to create room for diplomacy as there is no military solution that can be sustained on the ground, it has to be a diplomatic solution, a political solution.

Being relevant:

• The nuclear weapon states derailed the negotiations on nuclear disarmament and brought in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to give themselves the right to have nuclear weapons in perpetuity while the remaining countries of the world are dependent on guarantees of protection.
• Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and even Belarus were persuaded by the U.S. and the Russian Federation to give up their nuclear weapons in exchange for a guarantee.
• COVID-19 had already dealt a blow to multilateralism, given refusals by big powers to waive patents, provide access to vaccines, etc.
• This inability of multilateral institutions, whether it is WTO, the UNSC or the NPT, to rewrite the rules will make them irrelevant if they continue to be discriminatory.

Conclusion:

• The ongoing crisis provides an opportunity to change the structure of the multilateral institutions but the current structure that is the P-5 [China, France, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S.] veto-holders believe that the veto is what saves them from international scrutiny and for being able to do what they do and get away with it.