“The Unbearable Lightness of Global Governance”: High-Level Expert Meeting in Vienna Calls for a Reorientation of Multilateralism
With the number of armed conflicts worldwide reaching its highest level since 1945 and only 18 percent of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on track, the international system is facing a critical test. Against this urgent backdrop, high-level representatives from the fields of diplomacy, international organizations, business, academia, and politics gathered in Vienna.
The discussion centered on the future of multilateral institutions, the Sustainable Development Goals, the involvement of private actors, Europe-China relations, and the difficulties of international cooperation in a fragmented global landscape. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Wikiweeki / CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
Against this backdrop, high-ranking representatives from diplomacy, international organizations, politics, business, and academia gathered on September 9, 2026, at the “Am Hof 8 – Private Members Club” in Vienna. The occasion for the event was the presentation of the 2026 summer issue of the renowned magazine Horizons (Issue No. 35), titled “The Unbearable Lightness of Global Governance,” published by the Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) in Belgrade in cooperation with the Global Neighbors Initiative.
A Paradox of the World Order: Between Aspiration and Reality
The title of the issue draws a deliberate parallel to Milan Kundera’s famous novel "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", which contrasts the lack of consequence in a meaningless life with the weight of duty and responsibility.
Vuk Jeremić, President of the CIRSD, Editor-in-Chief of Horizons, and former President of the UN General Assembly, opened and moderated the panel discussion. He pointed to a central paradox of today’s world order: While the United Nations continues to enjoy unchallenged universal legitimacy, the gap between the expectations of the international community and the results actually achieved is growing ever wider. The institutions that were once created to bear the burden of the world’s problems have, over time, been weakened and are increasingly reaching their limits.
“The Architecture of Survival”: Civil Society and the Private Sector as Trailblazers
The debate took as its starting point the joint essay by Jovanka Porsche (founder and chair of Global Neighbors) and Siddharth Chatterjee (CEO of Global Neighbors and former UN Resident Coordinator in China) titled “The Architecture of Survival: Why the World Cannot Wait for Governments Alone.” The core message is that the renewal of multilateralism can no longer be driven by government actors alone.
Jovanka Porsche emphasized that effective global governance requires a broader ecosystem. Global Neighbours sees itself as a “think-and-do tank” that translates dialogue directly into concrete initiatives. Through the international forum “Tracks to the Future,” the organization brings together decision-makers from Europe and Asia. “It’s not about bypassing governments, but about laying the groundwork on which official diplomacy can operate in the first place,” Porsche emphasized.
Siddharth Chatterjee advocated for a shift toward practice-oriented innovations. While traditional government diplomacy (Track 1) remains indispensable, unofficial and semi-official formats (Track 1.5 and Track 2) create essential room for maneuver. As an example, he cited a Princeton University-backed initiative to reduce maternal mortality in Kenya. Here, Kenyan agencies and UN organizations worked hand in hand with an unusual alliance of global companies—including Huawei (China), Merck (U.S.), GlaxoSmithKline (U.K.), Philips (Netherlands), and Safaricom (Kenya). Such public-private partnerships demonstrated that cross-border cooperation can work even amid geopolitical tensions.
Scenarios for the Post-2030 Era and Europe’s Strategic Role
Igor Lukšić, former Prime Minister of Montenegro and former visiting fellow at Global Neighbors, turned his attention to the future of the global development agenda beyond 2030. He outlined four possible paths, including further fragmentation of the international order; a highly focused agenda modeled on the former Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); a profound reform and renewal of the SDGs; and a shift toward “strategic globalization,” in which sustainable development is increasingly implemented through regional and plurilateral networks.
Another key focus of the evening was Europe’s role in a multipolar world. The panelists noted that Europe must move beyond strategic overconfidence and rebalance its relations with major powers such as the U.S., China, and Russia. Europe’s influence in the future will depend largely on whether it succeeds in actively integrating academia, business, and civil society into its foreign policy.
The event made it clear that the fragmentation of global politics need not lead to paralysis. To meet the challenges of the 21st century, a close-knit network of bridges spanning geopolitical divides is needed—supported not only by states but by a broad “architecture of survival.”