IndiaPosted at: Sep 24 2026 1:37PM


Multilateralism at crossroads: Time to put humanity above geopolitics

R K Raina
New Delhi, Sep 24 (UNI) Multilateralism is failing repeatedly, even though almost every country continues to support the idea of multilateral engagement. This is perhaps the most painful contradiction of our time. We speak of international cooperation, international law and a rules-based world, but when it comes to actual action, short-term national interests and geopolitical calculations take over.
There is no alternative to meaningful multilateralism. The world is too deeply connected to live without it. Energy, food, water, climate, trade, technology and security are no longer matters confined to one country. What happens in one part of the world eventually affects another.
The real problem is that we have never clearly defined the permanent and larger interest that multilateralism must protect.
Today, geopolitics is replacing almost every other form of cooperation. Differences are increasingly seen through the chessboard of geopolitical competition. Every country feels justified in pursuing its own interest, using whatever instrument is available to gain an advantage over another.
But geopolitics cannot become the permanent framework of international relations. Multilateralism must be the larger framework within which geopolitical interests are restrained by common principles.
The permanent interest of humanity is peace. It cannot be the short-term interest of one country to become stronger by weakening another.
We have heard arguments that allowing one country to become economically powerful was a mistake and that the same mistake should not be repeated with another country. Such thinking itself shows how far we have moved from the spirit of multilateralism.
If economic development is good for one country, why should another country be prevented from achieving the same prosperity? The same principle applies to resources. If a country controls energy, food, water, minerals or important trade routes, those resources should not become instruments of political blackmail or geopolitical supremacy.
Otherwise, what are we teaching the world?
Are we teaching every country to become selfish? Are we teaching that whatever resources a country possesses can be used to force others to agree to its terms? Are we teaching our children that bombing, destroying and blackmailing are legitimate ways of making another country accept our conditions?
After centuries of human wisdom, is this really the conclusion we have reached?
Multilateralism needs clearly defined principles, which should become the basis of international engagement and international law.
First, the permanent interest of humanity must be defined. The permanent interest must be peace, human dignity and the survival of humanity. Short-term political advantage cannot be allowed to override this larger interest.
Second, every international law and agreement must remain consistent with basic human values. No agreement should be considered acceptable simply because powerful countries have agreed to it. The purpose of international arrangements must ultimately be to protect human dignity, human rights and peaceful coexistence.
Third, the existence and survival of every human being must be respected equally. It should make no difference whether a person belongs to the smallest country or the most powerful country. Human life cannot have different values according to geography, wealth, religion or political influence.
Fourth, resources essential for human existence must not become weapons of political supremacy. Water, food, energy, climate and essential trade routes are conditions for human survival. They cannot become instruments of blackmail. These resources should increasingly be treated as a shared responsibility of humanity.
Fifth, nations must respect each other’s religious, cultural and traditional practices. A belief which is personal to one community cannot become an open invitation for conflict with another. The fact that another society follows a different religious or cultural path should not itself become a reason for confrontation.
Some differences have to remain differences. Not every difference needs to become a dispute.
Multilateralism is not against bilateral agreements. Bilateral and regional arrangements will always have an important place in international relations.
But the larger multilateral principles must remain above them.
If a bilateral agreement violates fundamental principles of multilateralism, it should not automatically acquire legitimacy simply because two countries have agreed to it.
This becomes particularly important for smaller and poorer countries. Countries that do not possess large resources often have very little say in determining how they will survive and serve their own people.
If tomorrow one country gains control over a resource essential for another country’s survival, that resource can become a tool of blackmail.
Once one basic rule is broken, other rules become easier to break. Trust disappears, and every disagreement becomes another opportunity for geopolitical competition.
This is how differences become disputes, disputes become conflicts and conflicts become wars.
Violence Cannot Have Two Definitions. The greatest weakness of the present international system is the double standard applied to violence. My violence is justified, but your violence is unacceptable. My use of force is necessary, but your use of force is aggression. If violence is wrong when used by one country, it cannot become right simply because another country uses it for a different political objective.
When children are killed in one part of the world, it cannot make less noise because they belong to a different nationality or community. Human suffering cannot be measured according to geopolitical convenience.
Non-violence, therefore, has to stand at the centre of meaningful multilateralism.
Those who use violence, terrorism or deliberate destruction as instruments of policy should not be allowed to make international engagement merely another platform for political justification.
When conflict begins, the responsibility of the international community should be to stop it before it becomes a catastrophe. The collective strength of countries committed to multilateralism should be used for dialogue, mediation, humanitarian protection and, where international law permits, collective action to prevent further violence.
Resources Must Become a Common Responsibility. The world must also rethink how it treats the resources on which humanity depends.
Water, food, energy and a stable climate cannot be treated simply as instruments of national power. They are conditions for human existence. This is where the ancient Indian idea of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world as one family, becomes relevant. Its message is simple and powerful: humanity cannot ultimately be divided into isolated interests.
If something is unacceptable when done to us, we should not do it to others. If something benefits our people, we should also ask whether it can contribute to the well-being of humanity.
This does not mean abandoning national interest. It means understanding national interest within the larger interest of humanity.
We Are Cutting the Roots of the Tree on Which We Sit. The world is currently cutting the roots of the very tree on which humanity is standing. We are exhausting natural resources, destroying the environment, converting differences into disputes and disputes into geopolitical contests. If this continues, the result will be a world of hunger, displacement, environmental destruction and endless conflict.
Those who think the fire is far away should remember that fire eventually reaches the doorstep.
There are already 65 conflicts involving at least one state, according to recent conflict data for 2025. The number itself should make us question where our present system is taking humanity.
Tomorrow, there could be more. The question is not whether multilateralism is necessary. It is the only viable framework for an interconnected world. The question is whether we have the wisdom to make it work.
The leaders of the world need to come together and define the cardinal principles of multilateralism clearly.
Non-violence. Non-exploitation. Respect for human dignity. Respect for cultural and religious diversity. Responsible and equitable use of resources. Dialogue instead of destruction.
These principles must apply to every international engagement, whether bilateral, regional or global.
The world cannot continue saying that the rules apply to others but not to us.
If multilateralism is to survive, it must become stronger than geopolitics, stronger than short-term political calculations, and stronger than the temptation to use economic or military power against others.
The permanent interest of humanity is peace. That must become the permanent foundation of multilateralism.
Otherwise, we are not protecting the world for the next generation. We are preparing a world in which the fire of one conflict will eventually reach everyone’s door.
(The author is a former diplomat. The views are personal.)
UNI XC RSA
Tags: #Multilateralism at crossroads: Time to put humanity above geopolitics
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