PANEL EXPLORES GLOBALISATION, SOVEREIGNTY AND THE RISE OF A MULTIPOLAR WORLD

At the NXT Summit 2026, a panel discussion titled "Globalisation in a Multi-Polar World" brought together prominent academics, diplomats and policy thinkers to explore the shifting landscape of global trade, geopolitics and international cooperation.

- TIKAM SHARMA

The session was moderated by author and economic policy expert Pranjal Sharma, who set the context by raising key questions surrounding the future of globalisation. He asked whether the world is moving toward deeper integration or fragmentation, how a multipolar order may affect multilateral institutions, and what role emerging economies will play in shaping the global economic system.

Sharma also highlighted the growing "weaponisation" of global systems, noting that trade, finance, technology and talent mobility are increasingly becoming tools of geopolitical competition.

Stephen M. Maurer Emeritus Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, referred to the longstanding argument that economic interdependence and global trade can discourage wars by making conflict economically costly. While acknowledging this idea, he observed that such rational assumptions have not always prevented conflict in modern history.