Mitarbeiter sonstige

Introduction: Disruption and Reform: sustainable futures at stake? The case for politics of cooperation and perseverance

Berger, Axel / Anna-Katharina Hornidge
Mitarbeiter sonstige (2026)

in: Anna-Katharina Hornidge / Axel Berger (eds.), Disruption and Reform: sustainable futures at stake? The case for politics of cooperation and perseverance, Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), 6-9

ISBN: 978-3-96021-292-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23661/r4.2026

We live in a world undergoing tumultuous transition. This transitional phase is characterised by disruption and reform, not as sequential processes but as simultaneous ones standing side by side and reinforcing each other. Often, the disruptive element is more apparent and direct, affecting institutions and people. Assessments that the current world order and the multilateral system underpinning it are in decline are widespread and dominating headlines. The reforms taking place in parallel, however, are less discussed and not well-understood, and their outcomes are often still unclear. Two examples: Although major powers are using unilateral trade measures to promote their national economic interests at the expense of their trading partners, groups of like-minded countries are pursuing plurilateral agreements in specific issue areas with the aim of upholding and reforming rules-based trade and international cooperation. Whether these plurilaterals are transforming or undermining the multilateral trading system is nevertheless up for debate (see Berger & Brandi in this volume). Moreover, while the United Nations (UN) enters its second year of a liquidity crisis and faces deep funding cuts from its largest donors, its Secretariat and member states are simultaneously engaged in far-reaching, system-wide reform discussions, with a new Secretary-General due to take office (see Novoselova & Patz in this volume). Alongside these reform discussions, the parties to the three Rio Conventions on climate change, desertification and biodiversity loss will hold their respective Conferences of the Parties in close succession in the second half of 2026. Whether a deliberate push to better coordinate their agendas and reporting structures for the first time will lead to integrated policy designs remains to be seen (see Bauer, Wagner & Dombrowsky in this volume). […]

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