The strategic challenges and the emerging new order

We live in a time of perhaps the greatest geopolitical divide when it comes to creating a humane and dignified world order. The dream of Yalta in 1945, of putting wars behind us and replacing bilateral aggression with multilateral cooperation, was short-lived. It was replaced by a nightmare of fear, uncertainty and confrontation that continues to this day.
  All that remains of the dream is the Charter of the United Nations with its timeless ethics and profound vision for all eight billion citizens of our world.
  The many international wars and national conflicts that have occurred worldwide since the creation of the UN testify to the fact that the political UN, as a legislative body, especially the Security Council, has remained largely incapable of fulfilling its peace mandate.
  One of the main reasons for this is that, in pursuing its global geopolitical interests through a unilateralist foreign policy, the US has used its military and economic power, both in the United Nations and elsewhere, at its own discretion rather than in accordance with the principles of the rule of law and multilateralism.
  This pattern of behaviour is the only plausible explanation for both the turbulence in international relations and the often-disappointing performance of the United Nations.
  May this be regarded as a serious fact and not as an ideological statement.
  The multilateral construction site for a new, peaceful and just world order is truly enormous.
  It involves the geographical adaptation of a Security Council that has become unrepresentative.
  It involves a reformed application of the veto.
  It is about cooperation between the General Assembly, as the majority of states, and the Security Council, as the minority of states.
  It is about the existing insufficient authority of the General Assembly as the principal of the Security Council.
  It is about the independence of the work of the Secretary-General and the specialised agencies and their protection against bilateral interference.
  It is about the financing of the United Nations.
  I would like to add that the United Nations is “inexpensive”. The annual budget of the United Nations Secretary-General for 2025 amounts to 3.7 billion US dollars, or 0.46 euros per world citizen.
  Not to forget: it is also about a new and fairer international economic order, which has long been demanded by the non-Western world but continues to be rejected by the OECD countries.
  In short, it is about the democratisation of the entire UN system and the obligation of member states to comply with international law, with consequences for non-compliance.
  According to the UN Charter, such a list of challenges should have been discussed by the General Assembly back in 1955. With a 70-year delay, the so-called “Pact for the Future” was finally adopted last September at a special summit of the General Assembly.
  The current geopolitical situation may serve as an indication that the path to a new world order and the creation of a correspondingly reformed United Nations that meets the needs of humanity, of all people, wherever they live, will be a long one. It will also be a dangerous path, with many obstacles and potholes.
  It is encouraging that the UN General Assembly nevertheless seems determined to pursue this path. A majority of states and non-governmental organisations are simply no longer willing to accept a Western-centric world order.
  A valuable international toolbox is ready and waiting, containing almost everything needed for a comprehensive transformation.
  There is long-standing experience in all areas of human knowledge, both within the United Nations and its specialised agencies, as well as in other multilateral and national institutions that have been involved in the development of institutions for renewable, peaceful, inclusive and equitable development.
  Proposals for reforming international financial structures have been around for a long time.
  Climate change scientists and experts in tradition and local knowledge are ready to contribute.
  The UN Charter and the two covenants on political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights are valuable guides for future reform.
  However, there is one crucial factor without which neither a new world order nor a reformed UN can emerge: the political will of the major powers to unanimously commit to a future-oriented and humane multilateralism.
  No one can expect a dramatic shift from bilateral egoism to multilateral community spirit to happen overnight. The current state of global discord makes it difficult to believe in the utopia of peace.
  Nevertheless, the key to reform has been forged by the UN pact.
  The apocalyptic dangers lurking in the world – such as climate change, nuclear weapons, pandemics, artificial intelligence and human migration caused by crises, persecution and poverty – are global challenges that affect all 193 UN member states without exception.
  All countries, but especially China, the United States, Russia, and emerging powers such as India and Brazil, should take these challenges very seriously, not only for pragmatic geopolitical reasons.
  This is a unique opportunity to create a community of survival with the noble goal of bringing world peace closer.
  Through cooperation, it would be possible to develop a multilateral team spirit and build an assembly of nations into an alliance of united nations, the United Nations.
  “Creating something new means resisting. Resisting means creating something new!”

The great Frenchman Stéphane Hessel must not be forgotten! •

(Translation Current Concerns)

* Hans von Sponeck, born in Bremen in 1939, studied demography and physical anthropol­ogy at the universities of Bonn, Tübingen and Washington and received an honorary doctor­ate from the University of Marburg in 2010. From 1968 to 2000, he worked for the United Nations. During this time, he worked in New York, Ghana, Pakistan, Botswana, India and was director of the UNDP’s European office in Geneva. From 1998 to 2000, he was UN Co­ordinator and Deputy UN Secretary-Gener­al responsible for the Oil-for-Food Programme in Iraq. In February 2000, he resigned in pro­test against the sanctions policy against Iraq. Various awards and publications. In July 2024, Stanford University Press published his new book, “Liberating the United Nations: Realism with Hope”, which he co-authored with Rich­ard Falk. The text published here is based on a lecture given by Hans von Sponeck on 12 July 2025 in Berlin at the conference “Man is not a wolf to man”.