IDOS and Cepei present research on United Nations multilateralism in New York

A new publication by IDOS and Cepei sheds light on the increasing influence of the Group of 77 (G77) in shaping global dialogue at the United Nations and addresses its challenges. The authors presented the Discussion Paper on October 17 in New York, handing a copy to the UN Deputy Secretary-General.

Relations between the global North and global South have grown more contentious in recent years. As frustration on both sides rises in tandem with global power shifts, the United Nations (UN) has become an arena for the negotiation of a new global governance. Within this framing, the Group of 77, comprising some 80% of the global population from 134 developing countries, plays an important but not yet fully understood role for UN multilateralism. Relatively little is known about the internal decision-making process of the Group of 77 and how it affects global dialogue at the United Nations.

It is against that backdrop that a new Discussion Paper – a collaboration of IDOS and the Colombian think tank Cepei – examines the G77’s internal structure, decision-making and power distribution, and how these are factors for global dialogue in the UN, and a more effective multilateralism for that matter. Cepei director Philipp Schönrock and IDOS researchers, Max-Otto Baumann and Anna Novoselova, launched the Discussion Paper on 17 October in New York in an event hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Subsequently, a copy of the study was also personally handed over to the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed.