A middle power blueprint? Coalitions, rules, and global stability

A middle power blueprint? Coalitions, rules, and global stability

This Ditchley conference in partnership with Canadian Ditchley begins with the central challenge facing global governance today: the existing international order is under strain, and a new order is taking shape. Middle powers, especially democratic states, must decide whether their collective action should be aimed primarily at reinventing the existing order, currently organised around the United States as the most powerful democratic actor, or at positioning themselves constructively within an emerging global landscape shaped by shifting power, new actors, and new forms of cooperation. These choices also have implications for the institutions of the global order. Should we be aiming at modernising and extending the life of existing legacy institutions or developing new forms and fora for international coordination? It will be important to explore too how far these seemingly diverging paths forward might in practice overlap.