When the Allied Powers signed the United Nations Charter in 1945, they envisioned a peaceful international system capable of preventing another global conflict like the two devastating world wars that came before it. Eight decades on, that vision is under unprecedented strain.
Speaking at the Australian Institute of International Affairs Queensland’s Multilateralism in Peril event, Dr Susan Harris Rimmer from Griffith Law School saaid the erosion of the UN’s founding ideals can be traced to a “liquidity crisis” within the system, persistent violations of the UN Charter by member states, and the mounting pressures of the climate emergency. She argued that these overlapping challenges are testing the capacity of multilateral institutions to respond collectively to global problems in an increasingly fragmented world.
Dr Harris Rimmer said the emergence of regional blocs such as BRICS reflects both a response to and a symptom of fragmentation. As nations seek new avenues for influence outside the traditional multilateral system, she warned, power is becoming increasingly dispersed – potentially reshaping international norms and institutions that have defined the post-war order. Yet, she noted, this shift also presents an opportunity to rethink global cooperation in a way that better reflects new realities, particularly the growing influence of the Global South.
Challenges to Collective Action
The United Nations is facing what Dr Susan Harris Rimmer described as a “liquidity crisis” — a severe financial shortfall driven largely by late or unpaid membership contributions, resulting in a major cash deficit across its operations. Consequently, the UN has been forced to implement sweeping spending cuts and freeze staff recruitment.
Dr Harris Rimmer noted that the organisation’s core budget is projected to contract by around 30 per cent in 2025, falling to less than US$500 million, with staffing levels operating at only about one-fifth of what is needed to meet its mandates. She warned that this funding squeeze will have direct humanitarian consequences, with an estimated “114.4 million people identified as needing urgent life-saving assistance as of June 2025.” The return of Donald Trump to the United States presidency has further exacerbated the UN’s financial strain. As the organisation’s largest contributor, the United States traditionally provides around 22 per cent of the UN’s core budget, 25 per cent of peacekeeping funds, and more than 40 per cent of global humanitarian aid. However, in 2025, U.S. contributions have reportedly fallen to about US$300 million — an 80 per cent reduction from the US$1.5 billion allocated last year. Dr Harris Rimmer said this dramatic contraction has deepened the UN’s liquidity crisis, forcing the organisation to scale back operations, delay payments to field missions, and suspend new project funding. She noted that Washington’s retreat from multilateral financing sends a signal far beyond the budget, undermining confidence in the UN’s stability and encouraging other member states to withhold or reduce their own commitments.
According to the Global Humanitarian Overview, which spans more than 70 countries, the UN and its partners aim to reach nearly 180 million vulnerable people, including refugees and internally displaced populations. The appeal requires US$44 billion, yet by mid-year only US$5.6 billion had been received – highlighting the widening gap between global needs and available resources.
Dr Harris Rimmer also pointed to the persistent violation of the UN Charter by member states as a major factor of the “reducing faith in the UN” and the eroding credibility of multilateralism. She noted that despite the Charter’s foundational principles of“preventing war, ensuring dignity and increasing living standards for all”, these norms are routinely breached with limited consequences. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Myanmar and Sudan, powerful states continue to act unilaterally in pursuit of national interests, often paralysing the UN Security Council through vetoes or political deadlock. This pattern, she argued, exposes a deeper legitimacy crisis — one in which the rules exist, but the mechanisms to enforce them no longer command the authority they once did.
Additionally, the accelerating climate crisis represents one of the most urgent and complex challenges to multilateral cooperation. She noted that the world has already entered a phase of ecological overshoot, with humanity consuming natural resources faster than the planet can regenerate them. This results in global temperatures exceeding the 1.5 degrees above the temperature during pre-industrial times as set out in The Paris agreement of 1.5 degrees above the temperature pre-industrial times. However, in October 2025, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres acknowledged it is now “inevitable” that humanity will overshoot that target, with “devastating consequences” for the world. The ecological overshoot breaches several key planetary boundaries, including those governing biodiversity loss, land use and chemical pollution. Global temperatures continue to surge at rapid pace, leading to more frequent and deadly heatwaves, with heat-related deaths projected to become more common in the coming decades, with a report conducted by the World Health Organization showing that fatalities caused by heat has exponentially increased by approximately 85 per cent between 2000-2004 and 2017-2021.
Dr Harris Rimmer warned that these intersecting crises expose the limits of the current multilateral system that struggled to coordinate effective, binding action despite overwhelming scientific consensus. She argued that unless the United Nations and its member states can translate ambition into enforcement, the climate crisis will continue to erode both human and environmental security and institutional legitimacy.
The Rise of Regional Blocs
As global challenges intensify, Dr Harris Rimmer said many nations are losing faith in the UN’s ability to deliver coordinated and equitable solutions. This growing disillusionment has promoted states to look elsewhere for influence and cooperation, giving rise to new regional and economic alliances such as BRICS.She believes the alliance is “becoming the heart of global governance,” with a collective population and economic output that now surpasses those of the G7 economies. The alliance is comprises of ten states: Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. While regional blocs like BRICS provide an alternative to other states, it allows for middle powers such as Egypt and Ethiopia to assert influence in the international system while receiving social and economic benefits from being part of an alliance. Blocs such as BRICS prove to be particularly appealing to states, as they seek to reform the Bretton Woods system which heavily relies on the US dollar, meaning that the US has had a disproportionate amount of influence in the global monetary system. This has led to concerns about the ability of other countries to control their own monetary policies and to maintain economic independence. During their founding summit in 2008, in a communique they announced, “we are committed to advance the reform of international financial institutions, so as to reflect changes in the world economy.” Additionally, BRICS has persistently advocated the minimisation of unilateral economic sanctions which they believe is a form of coercion that violates international law and human rights. This is most evident from the Kazan Declaration from the 16th BRICS which stated its opposition of US hegemony, financial coercion and sanctions-driven diplomacy. However, Dr Harris Rimmer warned that while the bloc presents itself as a champion of multipolarity and fairness, most of its members are not democracies, raising questions about how alternative governance models might shape international norms. She warned that if BRICS continues to expand its influence without shared commitments to transparency, accountability and human rights, the result could be a fragmented world order driven by great power competition than cooperative rule making.
Rethinking multilateralism for the 21st century
Despite the growing fractures in the international system, Dr Harris Rimmer remains cautiously optimistic about the future of multilateralism. She argued that while institutions like the UN are under immense strain, they still provide a framework through cooperation. Examples include the establishment of Independent investigative measures that have led to International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice judgements, and special rapporteurs who monitor human rights breaches in Palestine. While imperfect, the UN can evolve. Revitalising old frameworks, she said, will require confronting entrenched power imbalances, ensuring more equitable representation for the Global South and reimagining diplomacy, better suited to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world.
Eighty years after its founding, the UN stands as both a testament to humanity’s capacity for cooperation and a reminder of its limitations. Whether it can endure another 80 years, Dr Harris Rimmer suggested, depends on the willingness of states – large and small alike – to reaffirm their commitment to shared governance over self-interest. For Australia and its regional partners, the task ahead is not only to defend the multilateral order, but to also help reshape it for a new era.
Edited by Eliza Hodge
Written by Chloe Leung
Currently in her third year of a double degree in Communications/Journalism and International Relations at Griffith University, Chloe Leung is passionate about intersectionality in global development – particularly centring the voices of marginalised communities.
