Whilst the world begins to slowly open up again following the initial coronavirus-induced lockdown, questions remain regarding the dire state of the present world order, and what order will emerge in the post-COVID-19 world. In the lead-up to the Rhodes Forum 2020, the DOC has launched the Berlin Call Initiative, convening key figures in the international policy-making and academic fields to discuss and contribute to a DOC-led series of policy recommendations for strengthening the multilateral order of the post-COVID-19 world.

The DOC has to-date hosted two roundtable discussions on three potential scenarios for the global order following on from and …

As part of the DOC’s Berlin Call initiative, a group of senior global thinkers recently discussed the future of multilateralism and world order, using this concept paper as a basis for their dialogue.

Executive summary 

This paper demonstrates how a global pandemic like COVID-19 can change the relationship between states and the international system in an era of heightened and unequal contest between the forces of nationalism and global cooperation. It looks at what we know and speculates about what we can only conjecture at this stage. We know four things:

• The world is likely to be less