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The Future of Multilateralism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 March 2019

Edward Kwakwa
Edward Kwakwa*
Affiliation:
Senior Director, Department for Traditional Knowledge and Global Challenges, World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva.
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Extract

Multilateralism can be seen as the greatest source of legitimacy and inclusiveness in the international system. In thinking of multilateralism, I am inspired by Harlan Grant Cohen's Editorial Comment in the January 2018 issue of the American Journal of International Law, in which he explains that multilateralism is a process that is more inclusive than unilateralism or bilateralism. Following that definition, it would imply, for example, that cooperation activities at the United Nations (UN), with its membership of 193 States, are more a reflection of multilateralism than cooperation activities at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), with its membership of thirty-six states, or at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with its membership of twenty-nine states. But by the same token, efforts at multilateralism could be harder to achieve results, given that achieving consensus among 193 countries would be more challenging than doing so among a smaller number of countries. It would also stand to reason that regional or plurilateral arrangements are less reflective of multilateralism than are multilateral arrangements. But of course, multilateralism should not only be viewed against a yardstick of numbers, but also in terms of legitimacy, effectiveness and impact of activities and outputs.

Type
Closing Plenary: The Future of Multilateralism
Information
Proceedings of the ASIL Annual Meeting , Volume 112 , 2018 , pp. 339 - 341
Copyright
Copyright © by The American Society of International Law 2019 

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Footnotes

The views expressed here are my personal views and are not necessarily shared by WIPO or by the United Nations.

References

1 Cohen, Harlan G., Multilateralism's Life Cycle, 112 AJIL 47, 50 (2018)CrossRefGoogle Scholar (arguing that multilateralism describes “a preference—a belief that, all things being equal, broader more inclusive regimes would best solve the problems at hand, whether functionally or normatively”).

2 See, e.g., Posner, Eric, Liberal Internationalism and the Populist Backlash (University of Chicago, Public Law Working Paper No. 606, Jan. 14, 2017)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, available at http://www.papers.ssrn.com/so13/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2898357.

3 The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances was adopted on June 24, 2012. It deals with the intellectual property rights of performers in audiovisual performances. See Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, WIPO Publ. No. 228E.

4 The Marrakesh Treaty is the first treaty ever that is devoted exclusively to creating limitations and exceptions to copyright law. This could be seen as a deviation from the traditional tenets of copyright law. It is instructive to note, however, that the treaty entered into force only three years after its adoption. This makes it one of the IP treaties (indeed, one of the multilateral, not just IP) that has entered into force in the shortest amount of time. For the provisions of the Marrakesh Treaty, see Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled, WIPO Publ. No. 218E.

5 Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications, WIPO Publ. No. 239E. The Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement was adopted on May 21, 2015. However, it has yet to enter into force. Although it will enter into force after ratification or accession by five states, only one state (Cambodia) has accepted it so far. This may be attributable to the several hurdles that were faced in the run-up to the adoption of this Treaty.

6 See generally WIPO, RE:Search, at http://www.wipo.int/research/en.

7 See generally Accessible Books Consortium, at https://www.accessiblebooksconsortium.org/portal/en/index.html.