Next week, the United Nations General Assembly will convene in New York for its 78th session, a reminder of the lasting impact of the brave new experiment that sprang from the aftermath of two World Wars. The catastrophic clash of great powers moved world leaders to seek to “provide sensible machinery for the settlement of disputes among nations,” as then U.S. President Harry Truman called on delegates to the U.N.’s first 1945 conference. Now, as the world faces challenges that transcend borders, from climate change to the risks of artificial intelligence, we must innovate boldly once again to establish a new global governance paradigm driven by new players, governed by new rules, and responsive to our new reality.
Our outdated 20th-century model of global governance enables a handful of major powers to unilaterally dictate resolutions to global challenges, while today’s most pressing problems require broader collective action to ensure that solutions benefit everyone.
Take for example the COVID-19 pandemic, an event that required international collaboration to protect the world’s public health. Instead, it highlighted the ways in which our current global systems are ill-equipped to address inequalities — and ultimately risk perpetuating them.
About the author
Martín Abregú
Martín Abregú is vice president for international programs at the Ford Foundation. He works on designing and implementing a vision for the foundation’s work at the global level, seeking to respond to the global drivers of inequality by bringing new voices and perspectives into the international arena.
