It’s time for global governance to reflect the new realities

The global order has outgrown itself. The 2026 Munich Security Report describes this moment as a period of “wrecking-ball politics”, in which the post-war order constructed in 1945 is “under destruction”.

However, that order was designed for a world shaped by bipolar rivalry and later sustained by American predominance. Today’s global system looks very different: economically diffuse, environmentally constrained and politically fragmented but deeply interconnected by both trade and technology.

Meanwhile, rising populism in Western countries seeks to tear down multilateral structures perceived as holding back national prosperity.

Yet multilateral institutions remain anchored in yesterday’s distribution of power, while today’s challenges – climate change, digital fragmentation, supply-chain insecurity, debt distress and geopolitical rivalry – demand frameworks that reflect contemporary realities. Global governance has struggled to keep pace with these changes.

That old architecture was built for a world of steel, grain and territorial sovereignty. The system now finds itself confronting problems driven by data flows, artificial intelligence, cross-border platforms, atmospheric physics and globally integrated capital markets. Governance remains predominantly state-centric, while value creation and systemic risk increasingly transcend borders and sectors.

The late 20th century was defined by confidence in a rules-based international order that could universalise principles under Western stewardship. It was also built on fading asymmetries of influence and supported by states that wholeheartedly backed these ideas.

South China Morning Post