Multilateralism and UN reform · at 10 min · 3 mentions in this passage
If small sized states are expected to comply with the rules, then the rules must also provide them with predictability. If candidates for membership in an organisation are required to meet certain criteria, then meeting those criteria must lead to progress. If we ask citizens to trust institutions, then institutions must demonstrate that their word has value and that their commitments endure. The rule that applies today cannot be different tomorrow, simply because the balance of powers has changed, and a commitment undertaken cannot be a temporary political convenience. It must be a foundation on which people can plan their future. We ask our citizens to believe in cooperation, in good neighbourly relations, in compromises and in mutual respect. We tell them that lasting peace is worth more than a short term political victory, that respecting agreements is a sign of strength and wisdom, and that it is the right thing to do, not a sign of weakness. The European and Euro-Atlantic integration means accepting rules that apply equally to all. But that argument becomes much harder to sustain when citizens see that in international relations, principle sometimes gives way to power, that criteria can change while the process is already underway, or that some are expected to demonstrate consistency that others do not always demand of themselves. We cannot tell people trust the rules when they can see that the rules do not apply equally. We cannot convince them that compromise is a virtue if every compromise produces a new demand, and we cannot expect trust in international institutions if citizens come to believe that their fate is created more often by the political weight of their state than by the strength of an agreed principle. This is a question of legitimacy, because our authority as elected leaders does not derive from the office itself. It derives from the people who elect us, who hold us to account, and who every day compare what we tell them with what they see. And today they see more than ever before. We live in an age in which information travels around the world in seconds. Never before has humanity had access to so much knowledge, but never before has it been exposed to so much manipulation, half truths, fabricated images, propaganda, and organised disinformation. That is precisely why politics is entering a new, more difficult and more complex era. Our task is no longer simply to inform our citizens.
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