WEF: World’s Collective Security System Under Severe Pressure

*UN Security Council unable to mandate new peacekeeping operation since 2014 

*Passed least number of resolutions in 2023

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The world’s collective security system is under severe pressure from geopolitical tensions, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has warned, admonishing that amid increasing global disorder, leaders must find new ways to cooperate.

In its just-released “The Global Cooperation Barometer 2025”, the Forum observed that cooperation on global peace and security has deteriorated with increased conflicts and the high number of forcibly displaced people serving as prominent challenges.

According to the report, the world’s collective security system is under severe pressure from geopolitical divides, with actors unable to prevent or end conflict, adding that levels  of conflict and the attendant humanitarian crises increased to record levels in the past year.
It stressed that multilateral institutions which were created to prevent and resolve conflicts have largely been unable to do so in recent years.

The result, the report noted, was the continued increase in conflicts in 2023, with the continued deterioration of security, including but not limited to the Middle East, Russia-Ukraine and Sudan,    and a significant increase in the number of forcibly displaced people, estimated at more than 118 million in 2023 and over 122 million as of 2024.

“Actions by the UN, such as new or augmented peacekeeping missions or resolutions from the UN Security Council, have been largely confined to humanitarian assistance rather than peace-making.
“Notably, the Security Council has not mandated a new peacekeeping operation since 2014. Instead, there has been a shift towards regionally led peace operations.

“Recent analysis by the International
Peace Institute found that cooperative actions in peace and security decreased the most among several domains of the multilateral system,with the Security Council passing fewer resolutions in 2023 than in any year since 2013,” it said.

The Global Cooperation Barometer is structured along five dimensions of global connection, including trade and capital, innovation and technology, climate and natural capital, health and wellness, as well as peace and security.

As the world transitions from what had been a stable post-Cold War global order to a new, more unsettled and unpredictable period, the report stated that political and geopolitical turbulence has the potential to degrade global cooperative efforts, adding that it does not need to.

The new Global Cooperation Barometer revealed that the world is currently grappling with heightened competition and conflict, while also identifying various areas where leaders can drive progress through innovative collaboration.

Released amid geopolitical, technological and sociopolitical upheaval, the Global Cooperation Barometer 2025 was developed in collaboration with McKinsey & Company, uses 41 indicators to measure the current state of global cooperation.

The aim is to offer leaders a tool to better understand the contours of cooperation broadly and along five pillars: trade and capital flows, innovation and technology, climate and natural capital, health and wellness, and peace and security.

President and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Børge Brende said, “The Barometer is being released at a moment of great global instability and at a time when many new governments are developing agendas for the year, and their terms, ahead.

“What the Barometer shows is that cooperation is not only essential to address crucial economic, environmental and technological challenges, it is possible within today’s more turbulent context.”
Also, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company, Bob Sternfels remarked: “This second edition of the Global Cooperation Barometer focuses on where cooperation stands today and what it can look like in the new technological age.

“Advancing global innovation, health, prosperity and resilience cannot be done alone. Leaders will need new mechanisms for working together on key priorities, even as they disagree on others, and the past several years have shown this balance is possible.”