TRUMPISM TRIUMPHS MULTILATERALISM

POWER & POLITICS

- PRABHU CHAWLA

HE world is undergoing a profound reset, but not with the optimism that followed major wars or the confidence that marked the rise of international institutions.

It is being altered with raw ambition, transactional power and unapologetic nationalism. The idea that global challenges need collective solutions is being undermined by conflicting national interests, institutional fatigue and a growing view that international bodies are disconnected from real-world results. Globalism, once seen as the natural progression of world order, is now regarded as a barrier rather than a benefit.

In this period of change, Donald Trump’s second term has not just aligned with this shift but has come to represent and accelerate it. Trump is not responding to the mauling of multilateralism. He is leading an assault against it. Trump’s perspective is based on a straightforward judgement. Multilateral institutions, in his view, have failed to prevent wars, reduce inequality, protect borders, ensure health security and uphold human rights consistently. He asserts that they persist not because they achieve results, but because they support a permanent global bureaucracy of retired politicians, career diplomats and civil servants who move endlessly from one organisation to another, earning high salaries, enjoying tax-free incomes and travelling the world for conferences and consultations.