multilateralism

multilateralism, process of organizing relations between groups of three or more states. Beyond that basic quantitative aspect, multilateralism is generally considered to comprise certain qualitative elements or principles that shape the character of the arrangement or institution. Those principles are an indivisibility of interests among participants, a commitment to diffuse reciprocity, and a system of dispute settlement intended to enforce a particular mode of behaviour.

Multilateralism has a long history, but it is principally associated with the era after World War II, during which there was a burgeoning of multilateral agreements led primarily by the United States. The organizations most strongly embodying the principle of multilateralism are to be found in trade (the World Trade Organization [WTO]) and security (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]). Numerous multilateral environmental institutions also exist.

Indivisibility

To better understand the nature of multilateralism, it is useful to contrast it with bilateralism, a good example of which is the commercial policies of Nazi Germany, in which the German government negotiated bilateral agreements with other countries specifying which goods and services were to be traded, their prices, and the quantities to be exchanged. Through that, a significant number of nations were connected by trade agreements, with Germany acting as a central hub. By contrast, the multilateral commercial regime, centred on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1948, used the principle of most-favoured nation (MFN). Under German bilateralism, third parties were excluded from interstate arrangements, whereas in the GATT, third parties were treated in a more-inclusive manner and were granted equal treatment by virtue of the MFN clause. Thus, the German system was built around systematic discrimination, whereas the GATT assured nondiscrimination for all contracting parties.

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In security arrangements, the principles of multilateralism are best embodied in a collective security system such as NATO, in which a war against one state is considered to be a war against all states, ensuring that any act of aggression against a member of the collective system is met with a response from all members. By contrast, a bilateral arrangement only ensures that A comes to the aid of B in the event of an attack by C. It would not ensure that C receives similar protection from A in the event of an attack on C by B. In that instance, the system discriminates against C. Bilateral security arrangements are, therefore, like their counterparts in commercial policy in being inherently discriminatory, whereas multilateral arrangements have a more-inclusive character in which all participants are afforded equal treatment.

In both of those examples, there is a notion of the indivisibility of interests. In security arrangements, peace is treated as being indivisible, such that no participating member can be at war while others are at peace. In commercial policy, the norm of MFN makes the trade system an indivisible whole. Bilateralism, by contrast, necessarily fragments relations between states. Indivisibility is therefore the first core principle of multilateralism.

Diffuse reciprocity

Along with, and related to, the principle of indivisibility of interests, multilateralism is considered to give rise to expectations of diffuse reciprocity among participants. In situations characterized by diffuse reciprocity, there is an expectation that there will not be an equivalence of obligations or concessions in any one exchange, but, rather, a balance is expected over an ongoing, potentially indefinite, series of exchanges with a group of partners. For example, in the collective security system outlined previously, members do not expect to be compensated for the military resources they may expend in defending a threatened member country. Their recompense lies in the knowledge that should they be attacked, they too will benefit from a collective response to that attack. By contrast, bilateralism is more associated with specific reciprocity and an explicit balancing of obligations between each pair of actors, as with the commercial relations of Nazi Germany.

Those relationships between bilateralism, multilateralism, and their respective forms of reciprocity can be seen to flow from the aforementioned indivisibility of interests. By its nature, the indivisibility of interests associated with multilateral arrangements gives rise to an expectation of diffuse reciprocity and its greater sense of inclusiveness, whereas the fragmentation and divisions of bilateralism lend to it an expectation of specific reciprocity.

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Dispute settlement

For the states to feel assured of the returns of treating their interests as indivisible, multilateral arrangements tend to incorporate some mechanism for ensuring that countries act in accordance with the expected norms. That principle of dispute settlement forms the third principle associated with multilateralism. A variety of methods for ensuring compliance are available, such as through peer review, which may suit more-informal arrangements, or the creation of a formalized body to which grievances may be taken. Having a system of dispute settlement enables participating countries to treat their interests as indivisible and to accept relations of diffuse reciprocity: they know that should the expected benefits not be forthcoming because of noncompliance by other participants, there is a mechanism through which redress may be sought.

Durability and influence

The three principles taken together form an “ideal type” of multilateralism. Although there was huge growth after World War II in the number of multilateral institutions, they have not always fully conformed to all aspects of this ideal model. Such institutions undoubtedly played a significant role in postwar global governance. More controversially, it has been argued that multilateral institutions may be inherently more stable than other forms of organization in that the principles underlying them appear to be more durable than other arrangements and more able to adapt to external changes. Thus, despite the perceived decline in the relative power of the United States after the 1970s, the multilateral institutions that the United States played the primary role in creating, such as NATO and the GATT (and, subsequently, the WTO), showed little sign of decline during that same period and continued to play an important role in shaping the international system.