Does the UN Model Still Work? Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Multilateralism

Composed of original articles from academics and policy notes from practitioners, this book attempts to draw up the state of multilateralism through the UN model and identify potential ways to address its challenges and shortcomings. The contributors question the role of multilateralism, sometimes accused of being fragmented, inefficient and unrepresentative, and its impact on global governance, democracy, trade and investment, the environment, and human rights. Since most of the authors are not from the UN system, the content of the contributions provides an external and more neutral assessment of the UN’s ability to continue to function today as a serious actor within a global movement in favor of a renewed form of multilateralism.

Does the UN Model Still Work? Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Multilateralism is now available in paperback for individual customers.

Kim Fontaine-Skronski, Ph.D. (2017), Université Laval (Canada) is Executive Director of the International Political Science Association (IPSA) and Affiliated Assistant Professor at Concordia University. In 2015, she co-edited a book on the structural changes of global governance in the 21st century. She served as a board member on the United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC) Greater Montreal branch (2016-2022).

Valériane Thool, Ph.D. student, Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), is Lecturer in International Law at Université de Sherbrooke. In 2022, she co-authored a chapter on The European carbon border adjustment mechanism: Does it pass the test of the WTO law? Involved in the internationalist community, she has judged several international law moot court competitions and is a board member of the Francophone Network of International Law.

Norbert Eschborn, Ph.D. (1993), Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany), is Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Canada since 2019. His publications include articles and books on development strategies of ASEAN countries, EU-ASEAN relations, and the political and legal reform processes in Thailand and Indonesia. He began his career as a journalist and later became a researcher at the Institute of Political Science of the Johannes Gutenberg University (Germany).