Crisis of Multilateralism and Cities’ Helping Hand

This essay shows how cities are stepping into the role of nation-states and are efficiently cooperating with other cities, not only bilaterally but also multilaterally. There are clear symptoms of the crisis of multilateralism that have led cities to attempt to save or fix the multilateral system and solve global problems, notably the current COVID-19 pandemic. Can cities be regarded as a helping hand or as a fix for the multilateral system? With discourse analysis and formal-legal analysis, this article concludes that the answer to the question is positive – cities may help to fix or save the multilateral system.

Multilateral Principles in a Bilateral World

Multilateralism in international investment law is a multifaceted concept with a complex and eventful history. Multilateralism is a paradigm for international investment relations and is also present in the caselaw of investment arbitral tribunals, regardless of whether they consider bilateral or multilateral investment treaties. Indeed, in most cases, they interpret treaty provisions as part of a multilateral system. Further, multilateralism is present every time States act in concert with other States or consider other States’ investors’ legitimate interests. It also emerges that, in some instances, multilateralism has become mandatory. For example, this is the case concerning sustainable development or climate change. In these areas, international law requires multilateralism. States are under an obligation to co-operate for purposes of achieving or promoting multilateral solutions. However, concerning the international investment law context, such a concept is not present. The general assumption is that States’ participation in multilateral practises is left to their discretion: it is voluntary or consensual. In this article, we question that assumption. In this article, we offer a brief review of multilateral experiences in international investment law in the 20th century and provide an analysis of multilateralism in a historical context. Then we turn our attention to the current state of affairs to appreciate it in light of the past. Further, we discuss the future, and in particular, mandatory multilateralism in international law with respect to sustainable development. Here we identify the principles, which might justify mandatory multilateral approaches. Finally, we consider whether the principles justifying mandatory multilateralism in international law are applicable in the context of international investment law as well. We attempt to answer this question in the affirmative and point out further areas of research.

Pandemic-induced changes in the SDG priorities and implementation mechanisms in the international cooperation system (analytical review)

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a rethinking of the approaches to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, both nationally and within the multilateral system. The crisis has forced international actors not only to reassess humanity's capability to achieve the Goals by 2030, but to question the relevance of the Agenda's priorities in the new environment. This work reviews the positions of key international institutions on sustainable pathways to global economic recovery.

THE REFORM OF THE BRAZILIAN ANTI-DUMPING REGIME: A PARTIAL REVIEW OF THE DETERMINANTS AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF DECREE 8,058/2013

This study considers the development and reform of the anti-dumping regime in Brazil as a ratification example of the multilateral trading system proposed by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Brazil's history of leadership in the WTO Rounds, as well as its emergence among users of temporary barriers illustrates the fact that developing countries participate, with some success, in the endorsement and strengthening of the multilateral system itself. Using the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement (ADA) as a model for its own regulatory framework, this practice ensures that domestic legislation will have greater compliance to international obligations and avoid constraints via the Dispute Settlement Body. Finally, the case of Decree 8,058/2013 highlighted the importance that specialized agents in the middle management of the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) have in the management and improvement of the Brazilian public policy.

Fitter for Purpose?

This chapter asks whether the world organization can become fitter for purpose. An essential motivation for getting right the understanding of the Third UN is the need to identify the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the “whole” organization. It is especially challenging to identify how the UN should act in the era of information disorder and public health pandemics, and thus how a variety of knowledge brokers from the Third UN can help the UN think. The task to analyze what the UN can and cannot do, as well as how to make it fitter-for-purpose, should have been undertaken more vigorously and earlier. However, it is even more crucial in the age of new nationalisms and populisms. In light of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and global economic meltdown, the breakdown of international cooperation and the pressing need for a robust multilateral system could not be more obvious, even if it is not clear to new nationalists.

Alternative Voices

The chapter details the growing inputs for UN deliberations from two distinct sets of “voices”: from within emerging powers that formerly were absent or largely hidden; and from for-profit businesses. The first part examines the political and economic changes brought about by rising and emerging powers that are altering the landscape for how to approach the pillars of UN activity. The second part reflects the arrival on the UN’s stage of TNCs, which formerly had only cameo roles despite their weight in the global economy because of their perceived role, within the popular rhetoric from the Global South, as exploiters and explanations for poverty. Both emerging powers and business are long-ignored partners that bring resources, expertise, new technologies, and energy to international problem-solving and to the Third UN; they also have challenged the multilateral system and led to calls for a new architecture of global governance.

Rethinking Peace Mediation: Trends and Challenges

This chapter outlines the new normative frameworks within which peace mediation now takes place. It identifies a move towards the professionalism of the field, and the desire to support multi-track peace processes at a global level. It further identifies a lack of clarity at the heart of the peace mediation architecture that must be addressed to improve the coherence and effectiveness of efforts to resolve armed conflicts globally. Ultimately, however, the chapter cautions that these developments need to be seen in the light of changing global politics and challenges to the multilateral system.