Prof. Najam Speaks at Oxford Conference on ‘Multilateralisms’

Prof. Adil Najam, Director of the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, attended and spoke at a conference on “Effective Multilateralisms” held on December 18-19, 2009.

The conference, held at St. Anne’s College, Oxford University, looked at how global security relations in the 21st century need to be addressed in the context of the debate about the future of the Western liberal order. It focussed in particular on nuclear non-proliferation and climate change as two key uncertainties where the potential consequences of collective action failure are particularly severe.

Speaking on December 19, 2009, and coming straight from the Copenhagen climate negotiations, Prof. Najam argued that in the arena of global climate change a “new multilateralism” is taking shape that is (a) beyond ‘big power’ concerns, (b) beyond state-centric ideas, and (c) beyond the multilateralism of multiple states and towards a multilateralism that also focuses on multiple institutions.