US losing stature in multilateral agencies, report finds

The United States has lost influence in multilateral organizations over the past 30 years, according to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS.

During the launch webinar for the report on Tuesday, Daniel F. Runde, director of the CSIS Americas program, explained the research that suggests the US has lost the ability to compete in leadership races and appoint qualified representatives to top positions. The number of qualified people has also declined.

"The United States currently leads just one of 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations, while China heads three," Runde said. "In the next three years, there will be leadership transition in many multilaterals, the UN secretary, development banks and the UN specialized agencies."

The CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development has spent the last year assessing opportunities for the US to rebuild its leadership role and influence in multilateral development institutions.

According to the report, titled "The Future of US Leadership in Multilateral Development Institutions: A Playbook for the Next 10 Years", international organizations have benefited the US, its allies and developing nations in numerous ways over the past 75 years and continue to play a vital role in addressing emerging global challenges.

Former US president Donald Trump's foreign policy marked a sharp but temporary departure from the style of multilateralism that the US advocated for 70 years. Seeing little value in alliances and spurning multilateral institutions, he withdrew from a series of existing or emerging international agreements, including the Paris Agreement on climate, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Those moves prompted his successor, Joe Biden, to declare that the "United States is back".

"If the United States really is 'back', as President Joe Biden has recently claimed, it needs to rebuild its influence in multilateral organizations and work with allies and like-minded partners," the report said.

Biden delivered his first presidential address to the UN General Assembly on Sept 21, attempting to reassure world leaders that the US is once again ready to embrace multilateral diplomacy following Trump's turbulent term and his "America First" policy.

Underlying reasons

However, Trump's four-year presidency was not the only factor in the loss of US influence in the multilateral system. The Biden administration must identify underlying or practical reasons, the report said.

"In the last 30 years, however, the global order has shifted, placing US leadership in multilateral development institutions in question. As membership in these organizations has expanded and developing countries have increased their muscle in the global economy, the central positioning of the United States in the multilateral system has diminished," the report said.

The numerous obstacles obstructing US engagement in the multilateral system at the practical level include the absence of a centralized US government effort to monitor upcoming leadership elections; a subpar effort to work with so-called allies and like-minded partners to put forward the best candidates; and uncoordinated systems supporting US citizens in mid- and entry-level positions.

The report cited China's talent pool and pipeline to multilateral international organizations as a point of comparison.

"At the professional level, China has established an International Organization Internship Programme through its Scholarship Council in order to coordinate JPO (Junior Professional Officers program) efforts and similar initiatives. The program works to build partnerships with nine international organizations … and has sponsored 32 JPOs and 590 other professional staff since 2015," the report said.

While those figures are below that of other member states, they have been achieved over the past five years alone. Research by the Heritage Foundation found that the UN employed 1,336 Chinese nationals in 2019, a 68 percent increase over 10 years.