With the end of the Pax Americana, great-power rivalry is intensifying and conflicts are escalating across the globe. A power-driven wolf world is emerging where the law of the jungle rules. At the very moment when global challenges, from climate change and pandemics to artificial intelligence, demand global solutions, multilateral institutions are paralysed.

This poses two formidable challenges: first, how to avoid being caught in geopolitical conflicts while preserving room for manoeuvre; and second, how to regain the initiative and create space for international cooperation.