India deserves a global governance role to manage multilateralism

Multilateralism is in crisis. With every turn of events, multilateral systems and international organisations are being debilitated almost always at the cost of the Global South. The United Nations stands paralysed. Even as, on the one hand, international laws and agreements are adopted to strengthen the rules-based international order, on the other hand, these are being violated with impunity without accountability. 

But the problem is much deeper. Majority of developing countries have become bystanders in the unravelling of the world order. Their only insurance i.e. universal participation in decision-making, is vanishing. Instead, they are being presented with two differing, even opposing, world views which they have been asked to subscribe to.

Almost all current problems, whether in the UN, WTO, IMF or the World Bank, can be traced back to the inability of the multilateral system to accommodate the new and emerging powers in the post-World War 2 architecture. Multilateralism is caught between those who fight to preserve the status quo of 1945 and those who demand reform to reflect current realities which are more multipolar.

Strengthening Multilateralism

India has been the biggest votary of strengthening multilateralism over the years. But, in a changed world, if the most populous country and the fifth largest economy, with a track record of multilateralism, democracy and a civilisational ethos of humanity, cannot be given its due in global governance, then there is a need for reform. In fact, it was at the 10th annual summit of the BRICS in 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa, that Prime Minister Modi proposed for the first time his vision of “reformed multilateralism” to give major emerging powers a voice in global governance.

India’s track record in the recent past and its two-year stint in the UN Security Council (2021-2022) have numerous examples, if at all examples are required, of how we bridged or overcame differences to build a more inclusive multilateral world. Accosted with global challenges like Covid-19, climate change, digital and AI divide, terrorism etc, and the sprouting of conflicts which threaten international peace and security, India has become indispensable in finding solutions.

Lest we forget, when the world was reeling under Covid-19, and countries were hoarding vaccines for themselves, it was India who came forward to produce and distribute vaccines. For our Vaccine Maitri, India prioritized small and vulnerable countries and saved numerous lives.

In December 2021, in the UN Security Council (UNSC), India successfully thwarted a move to wrest climate change from the inclusive UN Framework Convention on Climate Change-led process (UNFCCC), where all countries are present, and bring it under the ambit of UNSC – effectively putting climate action at the mercy of five permanent members (P-5), who are the major historical polluters. India underscored that the draft resolution “seeks to hand over that responsibility to a body which neither works through consensus nor is reflective of the interests of the developing countries.” The draft was defeated through a vote since India voted against it, while Russia exercised the veto. If it had succeeded, climate change architecture would have, by now, kept out the voice of the Global South, especially the most vulnerable and the Small Island Developing States. India yet again came on the side of inclusivity and multilateralism. It was in the same vein that India was instrumental in setting up the International Solar Alliance which now has 100 member countries.

G20 expansion

G20 is now an influential plurilateral group consisting of major economies taking decisions on global economic and developmental issues which impact all other countries as well. However, a glaring lacuna was that it was not fully representative of the smaller and medium sized states of the Global South. To bridge this gap, when India took over G20 Presidency (2022-23), Prime Minister Modi convened the Voice of Global South Summit where 125 developing countries participated. The Summit’s outcome was channelized into G20 discussions during India’s Presidency making sure that G20 took informed and inclusive decisions affecting the vast majority. In addition, India lobbied and inducted African Union into G20 – a huge step for a continent which has not been adequately represented either in G20 or UNSC or in other international bodies.

Needless to add, India has been at the forefront of efforts to reform the UN Security Council. Dealing with conflicts is the business of UNSC but inability to deal with them has become its hallmark. When the UN was established, there were 51 member states. Now we have 193. But we still have only five permanent members, who are polarized and have paralysed decision-making in the Council. The days when a small group of countries decided what the world should do are over. The logical fall-out of an unreformed Security Council is the emergence of other power centres to challenge it leading to fragmentation of the world order. Unless there is legitimate, representative and permanent representation of the Global South, especially that of the largest country India and a continent of 54 countries Africa, we cannot have meaningful decisions in the Council.

Our support to the developing world was reinforced during India’s stint in UNSC, where India stood for their territorial integrity, increased humanitarian assistance, correcting historical injustice, reform, development partnership, fighting terror and for peaceful resolution of disputes.

However, it was India’s independent and proactive stand during the Ukraine war which acted as a catalyst in helping other developing countries voice their dissatisfaction on a military solution being pursued and call for diplomacy and dialogue even in the midst of intense fighting and high emotions when all levers were being weaponized. In effect, this was India saying that we do not have to choose sides between warring blocs however big or important they may be. This was India saying that we stand for another world view which seeks the path of dialogue over war, seeks an inclusive world over polarization and fragmentation, seeks independence of policy-making over coercion of small and medium states in their decision-making, seeks territorial integrity over occupation and seeks reformed multilateralism over status-quo or unilateralism.

Ambassador (Retd.) T.S. Tirumurti is a former Indian Ambassador and currently a Professor at IIT Madras.
The above article was sent by the Indian High Commission in Wellington.