SERIES: THE WORLD AS IT IS!

The UN at 80: A crucial opportunity for renewal

By Michelle Ndiaye and Désiré Assogbavi*

As the United Nations celebrates its 80th anniversary, the international community finds itself at a pivotal moment in global diplomacy. For eight decades, the UN has been the bedrock of international cooperation, tackling pressing challenges ranging from climate change to human rights. But today, in the face of geopolitical fractures, persistent conflict, growing inequality, and heightened environmental threats, this anniversary calls for much more than celebration: it demands bold renewal.

To remain relevant in the 21st century, the UN must become more agile, inclusive, and responsive. This is the time to reinvigorate multilateralism, advance sustainable development, and reaffirm the fundamental principles of peace and security. If we fail to act, we risk losing the very institutions that guarantee global stability.

This anniversary must not only honor past achievements; it must spark a movement for meaningful reform. The window for action is narrow, and the stakes are high. A stronger, more resilient UN is not a luxury: it is a necessity.

In May 2025, the UN Secretary-General presented a vision for transformative reform, emphasizing operational streamlining and strategic realignment. More importantly, it is a legacy system, now ill-suited to today's geopolitical realities. His proposals include merging redundant functions and reducing staffing levels by approximately 20 percent—not to reduce size, but to increase effectiveness and impact. These changes mark a new approach to resource allocation, engagement in conflict zones, and support for fragile states. Additional reforms, such as consolidating counterterrorism efforts and reassessing regional offices, underscore the urgent need for transparent and adaptive structures.

This moment offers a rare opportunity for internal transformation, for influences from outside and from those who care about the multilateral system.

The pillars of reform: Priorities and necessity

Reforming the United Nations is essential to building a more effective and responsive global institution. Key priorities include reforming the Security Council, which involves expanding its membership, revising the veto power, and modernizing its decision-making mechanisms to reflect current geopolitical realities.

Other pillars concern the streamlining of the Secretariat: eliminating bureaucratic red tape, improving interdepartmental coordination, and strengthening cooperation between UN agencies. This would enable more effective responses to climate, health, and humanitarian emergencies, ensuring an adaptable and relevant organization.

On the peace and security front, updating mandates, securing mandatory contributions, and refining conflict prevention strategies would strengthen peacekeeping and conflict resolution efforts.

Finally, on the political agenda, promoting inclusive governance and equitable representation will be vital to increasing the legitimacy of the institution.

Rethinking global governance

In a fragmented world, rethinking global governance is essential to ensure that institutions remain effective, legitimate and adaptable.

Several innovative models deserve attention, such as networked multilateralism (where a decentralized set of specialized agencies and regional bodies work together), adaptive governance forums (loose coalitions of states that come together quickly to respond to emergencies), or multi-level systems (combining global standards with regional or sectoral management mechanisms).

Moreover, the inclusion of stakeholders, governments, civil society, private actors, can strengthen legitimacy and stimulate innovation, while hybrid structures combine intergovernmental bodies and non-governmental partnerships.

The hallmarks of successful global institutions today are inclusiveness, adaptability, legitimacy, and effectiveness, while balancing state sovereignty and collective action—a delicate but crucial task.

Some advocate alternatives to traditional institutions like the UN, such as “coalitions of the willing” that prioritize speed and targeted responses. While these frameworks offer agility, they can compromise legitimacy and accountability. Debate persists over whether global challenges should be addressed by centralized institutions or loose networks of alliances.

Africa's voice in UN reform

For eight decades, Africa has remained the most underrepresented, yet most affected, region on the Security Council. Despite representing 28% of UN member states (54 out of 193) and constituting the largest voting bloc in the General Assembly, Africa has no permanent seat on the Council. This structural exclusion persists, even though 70% of the Council's agenda concerns Africa and more than 50% of peacekeepers are deployed there.

Africa is where the UN tests its peacekeeping doctrines and humanitarian interventions, yet it remains absent from the decision-making process. The 2005 Ezulwini Consensus expressed Africa's unified demand for at least two permanent veto-wielding seats and five non-permanent seats. Nearly twenty years later, this demand remains unanswered, illustrating how reforms are continually delayed while the Security Council's legitimacy erodes.

As new powers emerge in Asia and Latin America, ignoring Africa risks rendering the UN institutionally obsolete. At 80 years old, the UN can no longer perpetuate the geopolitics of 1945, when most African countries still lived under colonial rule. A renewed UN must confront this historical injustice, not only by giving Africa a seat at the table, but also by amplifying its voice in global peace, security, and climate governance.

Perspectives: A Vision for the Future

At this crucial crossroads, the path forward is not only clear: it is urgent. The next chapter of global governance will be defined by our willingness to embrace change, rethink entrenched systems, and build institutions that reflect current realities. Born from the ashes of global conflict, the UN must now evolve to meet the challenges of a fragmented and constantly changing world.

This shift requires more than structural reform; it requires a change in mindset. Without it, the growing movement around “coalitions of the willing” to govern global affairs risks becoming entrenched. These coalitions, driven by shared interests, value flexibility, initiative, and collective action. But their rise also poses challenges related to legitimacy, coordination, and accountability.

The prospects offered by these coalitions present both major opportunities and risks. On the one hand, they enable rapid interventions in the face of security threats, climate change, or economic instability. But on the other, their effectiveness will depend on their transparency, inclusiveness, and ability to avoid power domination, which could exacerbate geopolitical inequalities and fragment global governance.

If managed well, these coalitions could complement existing international institutions and strengthen more adaptive governance. But if imposed without safeguards, they risk fueling unilateralism and undermining global stability.

Conclusion

The UN's 80th anniversary should not be a mere commemoration: it is a call to action for the future. We must move beyond rhetoric to determination. Reforming the UN is not a technical exercise: it is a moral imperative. Current crises—climate collapse, violent conflict, pandemics, the rise of authoritarianism—demand a global institution that is bold, responsive, and deeply human in its approach.

Let this be a moment of choosing transformation over complacency. Let this be the year we reimagine global cooperation. The future of the UN is not set in stone: it depends on the courage of those who believe in a better world and are committed to building it.

We cannot afford to miss this opportunity. "The world is watching. History is listening. And the future awaits us" (Prime Minister Mia Mottley), thus reminding us of the gravity of the moment and the responsibility it entails.

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*Michelle Ndiaye is Director of the Transformative Peace in Africa Program at the Open Society Foundation and former Special Representative of the African Union to the DRC.

*Désiré Assogbavi is an Advocacy Advisor at the Open Society Foundation.