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Credit: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters via Gallo ImagesOpinion by Samuel King\u00a0(brussels, belgium)Friday, February 13, 2026Inter Press Service<\/p>\nCredit: Jonathan Ernst\/Reuters via Gallo ImagesOpinion by Samuel King\u00a0(brussels, belgium)Friday, February 13, 2026Inter Press Service<\/p>\n
\nBRUSSELS, Belgium, February 13 (IPS) – The latest World Economic Forum made clear the current crisis of multilateralism. Over 60 heads of state and 800 corporate executives assembled in Davos under a \u2018Spirit of Dialogue\u2019 theme aimed at strengthening global cooperation, but it was preceded by a series of events pointing to a further unravelling of the international system.\n<\/p>\n
On 3 January, Donald Trump launched an illegal military strike on Venezuela<\/a> to abduct President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, which was widely condemned as a violation of international law. On 7 January, he signed an executive order<\/a> withdrawing the USA from 66 international bodies and processes, including 31 UN entities, such as the UN Democracy Fund, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and UN Women. Then came the launch of Trump\u2019s Board of Peace, evidently an attempt to supplant the UN Security Council. The country that helped build the multilateral system is walking away from the parts it doesn\u2019t like and seeking to reshape the rest in its interests.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s approach to multilateralism is nakedly transactional. His administration engages with international processes only when they advance immediate US interests and withdraws from those that impose obligations. This disassociates multilateralism from its core principles: accountability over shared standards, equality among nations and universality. It encourages other states to follow suit.<\/p>\n This approach brings devastating financial impacts. US threats to defund international bodies have left institutions scrambling. UN development, human rights and peacekeeping programmes all depended heavily on US financial contributions. The World Health Organization faces shortfalls<\/a> that threaten its ability to respond to health emergencies because the US government quit without paying its overdue contributions.<\/p>\n The USA\u2019s closest allies aren\u2019t safe. Trump threatened NATO member Denmark with 25 per cent tariffs unless it agreed to the USA\u2019s purchase<\/a> of Greenland, and suggested he might seize the territory by force. NATO\u2019s Article 5 on collective defence \u2013 invoked only once, by the USA after 9\/11 \u2013 lies in doubt. European states are reacting by seeking strategic autonomy, slashing<\/a> development aid and reducing UN contributions while finding extra billions<\/a> for military spending.<\/p>\n Problematic alternatives are looking to capitalise on crisis. At Davos, China positioned itself as the grown-up alternative to Trump, promoting its Friends of Global Governance initiative<\/a>, a group of 43 mostly authoritarian states including Belarus, Nicaragua and North Korea. <\/p>\n The queue of heads of government meeting China\u2019s leader Xi Jinping shows many states are pivoting this way. But it comes at a cost: in China\u2019s vision of international cooperation, state sovereignty is paramount and there\u2019s no room for international scrutiny of human rights or cooperation to promote democratic freedoms.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the same story with the new Board of Peace. The body originated in a controversial November 2025 Security Council resolution<\/a> establishing external governance for Gaza, but Trump clearly envisions a permanent, wider role for it. He chairs it in a personal capacity, with full power to veto decisions, set agendas and invite or dismiss members. Permanent membership costs US$1 billion, with the money\u2019s destination unclear.<\/p>\n The Board\u2019s draft charter<\/a> makes no mention of human rights protections, contains no provisions for civil society participation and establishes no accountability mechanisms. Most members so far are autocratic states such as Belarus, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Its credibility is further undermined by the fact that Israel has just joined, despite having made a mockery of international humanitarian law. More democratic states have declined invitations, mostly due to concerns about the body\u2019s unclear relationship with the UN. Trump\u2019s response was to threaten increased tariffs against France and withdraw Canada\u2019s invitation. He has made clear he considers himself above international law, casting himself as a de facto world president able to resolve conflicts through personal power and pressure. <\/p>\n As the old order dissolves, civil society must play a critical role in defining what comes next. While the UN \u2013 particularly its Security Council, hamstrung<\/a> by the use of veto powers by China, Russia and the USA \u2013 needs reform, it remains the only global framework built on formal equality and universal human rights. As the UN faces assault from those abandoning it or seeking to dilute its human rights mandate, civil society must mobilise to keep it anchored to its founding principles and challenge the hierarchies that exclude global south voices.<\/p>\n It falls on civil society to organise across borders to uphold international law, document violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and demand accountability. Not for the first time, civil society needs to win the argument that might doesn\u2019t make right.<\/p>\n Samuel King is a researcher with the Horizon Europe-funded research project ENSURED: Shaping Cooperation for a World in Transition<\/a> at CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.<\/p>\n For interviews or more information, please contact [email\u00a0protected]<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a9 Inter Press Service (20260213192214) \u2014 All Rights Reserved. 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