The New Flexi-Lateralism: International Cooperation in an Era of Raw Power Politics

Andy Sumner, Len Ishmael and Stephan Klingebiel
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Andy Sumner: King’s College London; Center for Global Development
Len Ishmael: Policy Center for the New South
Stephan Klingebiel: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)

No 393, Policy Papers from Center for Global Development

Abstract: Escalatory attacks on multilateral rules and institutions in this era of raw power politics have plunged international politics into uncharted territory. Traditional alliances have been fractured and new partnerships between unlikely bedfellows are emerging. No longer in transition, the post-World War II world order is in rupture. This paper examines international cooperation under these conditions and argues that a new "flexi-lateralism" is taking shape as a pragmatic response to changing times. We define the new flexi-lateralism as international cooperation expressed through adaptable modular tools and selective coalitions, anchored in UN norms, that proceeds even when universal commitments are openly contested and attacked. Our paper considers a set of initiatives launched around the Financing for Development (FfD) conference in Sevilla (July 2025) on the issue of debt servicing. We illustrate how cooperation often depends on selective participation, informal venues, and issue-specific coalitions, rather than comprehensive universal bargains. The paper uses "flexi-lateralism" as a term for these flexible multilateral forms that sit between classic UN-style universality and narrow great-power deals. We conclude that international cooperation in this era is neither automatically collapsing nor simply fragmenting. It is adapting and reconfigured through overlapping clubs and coalitions with uneven implications for the Global South and the North.

Pages: 23 pages
Date: 2026-05-07
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cgd:ppaper:393

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