Modernising Multilateralism Before the World Moves Past It
Modernising Multilateralism Before the World Moves Past It
or Why the Nordics Should/Must Speak with One Voice...
A reflection on the Nordics, Europe, and the emerging global order
When Finnish President Alexander Stubb addressed the G20 summit in Johannesburg, he articulated something many have sensed but few have dared to say plainly: the world is shifting away from multilateralism towards multipolarity.
Multilateralism – the post-war idea that stability emerges through rules, institutions, and shared responsibility – is being replaced by a system defined more by power, transactions, and ad-hoc deals. This is not theoretical. It is visible in real time.
We see it when:
– the United States proposes a peace plan for Ukraine without consulting its closest European allies;
– Russia attempts to shape the future of a nation it has invaded;
– global institutions struggle to respond to crises in Gaza or Sudan.
These are not isolated failures but symptoms of an institutional architecture no longer aligned with reality.
The Nordics: A global region acting like five small states
Eirik Winter captured this paradox sharply in a recent op-ed (https://www.di.se/debatt/stubb-visar-vagen-till-stark-nordisk-rost/):
"The Nordics pay, deliver, and take risks — but are absent when decisions are made."
Norden is one of the world’s most integrated regions — a shared labour market, interconnected energy systems, harmonised standards, top-tier innovation clusters, and now a common security architecture through NATO. Yet we continue to speak with five separate voices.
In a multipolar world, regional capacity matters more than national size.
And by that measure, the Nordics are a G10-level region:
– 28 million people
– world-leading climate and innovation capabilities
– a strategically vital security position
– transparent, stable institutions
– global impact per capita unmatched by almost any region
But as long as we refuse to see ourselves as a region, the world will not treat us as one.
Institutions are the infrastructure of civilisation
Institutions are not bureaucracy; they are the mechanism that turns power into predictability and conflict into rules. When they work, they are invisible. When they fail, they expose the world to the logic of force.
And today, many of them are failing — not because de har blivit sämre, but because the world they were built for no longer exists.
Three steps forward
A unified Nordic voice
A formal Nordic declaration ahead of the 2026 G20 summit would send a clear signal that we intend to act as a region — not five isolated states.
A more assertive and forward-leaning EU
Europe must insist on a seat at the table where its own future is negotiated.
Modernised global institutions
The multilateral system must be updated to reflect the power realities of the 21st century — not 1945.
Conclusion
We stand at a geopolitical crossroads. If we want global order to be shaped by cooperation rather than coercion, by institutions rather than spheres of influence, and by responsibility rather than opportunism, then the Nordics, Europe, and the multilateral system as a whole must be modernised.
Not eventually.
But now.
Mathias Knutsson
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