(Adnkronos) – There is a phrase, spoken by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Davos on January 20th, that captures the state of the international system better than many analyses: the world has emerged from “a pleasant fiction” and entered “a harsh reality”—that of major powers acting under increasingly weak constraints. Hence the Prime Minister’s call for unity among “middle powers”: “They are not powerless. They have the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values.”
A report by Nobuto Sato for Jiji Press—one of Japan’s two major news agencies—centers on this diagnosis; it was distributed internationally via the “Japan Connect” service of AFPBB News, an outlet launched in 2007 by Agence France-Presse. The document outlines the symptoms of a crisis that can no longer be dismissed as a mere cyclical downturn. Competition between the United States and China has reportedly expanded the battlefield far beyond the military realm, turning tariffs, export controls, and supply chains into weapons. Meanwhile, multilateral institutions—led by the United Nations and the World Trade Organization—appear to be sliding into increasing dysfunction, even as the Trump administration pursues an isolationist course: withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization, and imposing high tariffs that erode the post-war trade order.
The gap between institutions and reality
“Global governance is being severely shaken. I consider this a critical situation,” warns Kazuhiro Maeshima, a professor of US politics at Sophia University in Tokyo, in the report. His analysis is sociological, so to speak, rather than diplomatic: post-Cold War globalization is said to have widened inequalities, fueling a public perception that national wealth was flowing abroad. The reaction embodied by Donald Trump took root in that resentment, with “my country first” serving as the hallmark of an era Maeshima defines as “post-post-Cold War.”
The diagnosis coming from Japanese diplomatic circles is not dissimilar. Ryo Nakamura, Director-General for Global Issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, identifies the crux of the matter in a structural disconnect: “While the international community has undergone profound transformations, the framework for international cooperation has changed very little, and the gap between that framework and reality has continued to widen.” The paradox is, after all, evident: precisely as collective mechanisms weaken, there is a proliferation of challenges that no single state can tackle alone—climate change, pandemics, terrorism, refugee crises, and the regulation of artificial intelligence.
The unit price
The recent trajectory of the G7 also suggests that multilateralism is surviving at a high cost. The format has held firm, but—according to the Japanese agency’s account—only by shelving divisive issues. “Keeping the United States at the table requires setting aside major issues like climate change and free trade,” observes Céline Pajon of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). Maeshima offers a blunt assessment: “After effectively reducing the G7 framework to a mere formality during his first administration, Trump is once again hollowing it out in his second term.”
Japanese paper
It is within this void that the report’s central hypothesis is situated—and here, the Tokyo-based agency makes no secret of its national perspective: Japan as a linchpin. “It can leverage its unique position as a U.S. ally while simultaneously collaborating closely with European and Asian nations,” argues Maeshima, citing as an example Tokyo’s support for the United Kingdom’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)—finalized in December 2024—making it the first European country to join the free trade agreement.
This assessment finds support in Paris. Japan is “a democratic and politically stable country that has consistently defended and promoted multilateralism and liberal norms,” observes Céline Pajon, Head of Japan and Indo-Pacific Research at the Center for Asian Studies of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), France’s leading think tank in the field. She highlights Japan’s role as a bridge “between its American ally and European partners,” as well as its function in encouraging the G7 to open up to the Global South. Nakamura echoes this sentiment: “Japan has friendly relations with numerous countries. In multilateral relations, we aim to play a connecting role.”
Crisis or opportunity
The fundamental question remains—the very one that gives the Jiji Press report its title: can global governance be rebuilt? The experts consulted offer no easy optimism, yet they do not give up either. Maeshima speaks of a “historic turning point for the order the United States has dedicated itself to building,” while immediately adding that “this is also an era in which global governance is truly essential: we must turn crisis into opportunity,” urging reform of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. Nakamura, for his part, points to the political prerequisite for such a revival: “To gain public understanding, we must demonstrate that promoting international and multilateral cooperation serves the national interest.”
This is perhaps the most revealing passage of the entire analysis. To survive, multilateralism must no longer justify itself to government chancelleries, but to voters. “Multilateralism is not dead,” concludes Nakamura. “There is still much we can do.”
Source: report by the Japanese news agency Jiji Press, “Japan Connect” service / AFPBB News (Agence France-Presse).
