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IPI 
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION ON MULTILATERALISM 
- Draft Concept Note-
New York. January 2011 
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Objective 
It is proposed to launch an Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM) 
[tentative name]. The ICM will have an ambitious agenda. Using the body of knowledge 
already available as a starting point, the ICM will gather periodically, over a period of two 
years, to consider concrete and operational policy proposals for the enhancement 
of multilateral action. 
These proposals will not only search for the appropriate decision-making mechanisms, 
but also for improving the structures (i.e., organizational architecture) and processes 
(i.e., policy implementations) of the multilateral system. The meeting of the ICM will also 
be an opportunity for a forward-looking discussion of global challenges and the 
implications for change and adaptation of the multilateral system. 
Scope 
The primary concern of the IMC will be the capability and effectiveness of the multilateral 
system to prevent and respond to global and regional challenges of this and future 
times. Multiple reports and materials have been produced on the topic. However, there is 
no forum for in-depth discussion among policy-makers on how to implement and achieve 
those transformations. Building on the most recent and solid proposals, the IMC intends 
to engage ministerial-level policy-makers and high-level practitioners in multilateral 
organizations, national govemments, and civil society. 
The areas of engagement of the ICM will include: 
1. 
International Peace & Security 
2. 
Humanitarian Emergencies 
3. 
Development & Environment 
In order to capture the interdependence and connections among institutions and 
challenges, something that often escaped previous inter-governmental reforms, the 
International Peace Institute (IPI), acting as Secretariat of the Commission, will compare 
and analyze each area of engagement as a whole to insure the coherence of the final 
proposals. However, specific recommendations might be articulated for different regions. 
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Structure 
The ICM will be composed of: 
1) A Ministerial-level Task Force, 
2) A High-level Advisory Group, 
3) A Secretariat. 
1) The Ministerial-level Task Force will include high level govemment officials and will 
convene annually to consider concrete proposals for the enhancement of 
multilateral action in the areas mentioned above. A tentative list of participants will 
include key players in the multilateral system, as well as participants to smaller 
groupings, such as the G7+1: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Democratic 
Republic of Congo, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, 
Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, 
Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, 
United Kingdom, and United States. 
2) The High-level Advisory Group will include former high-level govemment officials 
and leading experts in different fields and regions of the world. The Advisory Group 
will serve as "brain trust" of the IMC. It will gather bi-annually and work in partnership 
with the Secretariat in providing advice to the analysis and proposals that will be 
submitted for consideration to the Ministerial-level Task Force. The composition will 
ensure multidisciplinary and cross-culture exchange. Potential members of the 
Advisory Group could include: Kofi Annan, Louise Arbour, Lakhdar Brahimi, Paul 
Collier, Robert Cooper, Joschka Fischer, Ashraf Ghani, Kishore Mahbubani, Miguel 
Moratinos, Sadako Ogata, Ghassam Salame, Ngaire Woods, etc... 
3) The Secretariat of the ICM will be organized by IPI. It will coordinate the initiative, 
draft the reports for the Ministerial-level Task Force, steer the discussions among 
experts in the Advisory Group, guarantee a constant flow of information among the 
different members and components of the ICM, and organize the meetings. 
The G7+ includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, 
Liberia, Nepal. the Solomon Islands, Sierra Leone. Southern Sudan and Timor-Leste. 
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Timeline 
The initiative will develop over two years and half, from spring 2011 to December 2013. 
IPI proposes to arrange an initial brainstorming retreat to discuss the concept, 
structure, process, and agenda of such initiative. This brainstorming retreat could be 
organized among a core group of interested states in spring 2011. 
Once there is an agreement on the key elements of the initiative, members will be invited 
to participate in the Task Force and in the Advisory Group with the goal of holding the 
first meeting before the end of 2011. The Advisory Group will gather every six months 
(September 2011, March and September 2012, March and September 2013), while the 
Ministerial-level Task Force will convene annually in the fall, starting in 2011. 
Background Context 
Rapid socioeconomic changes, demographic shifts, resource scarcity, environmental 
degradation, conflicts: the challenges that the world faces are many and of 
unprecedented complexity. As these challenges become increasingly interconnected 
across the globe, they become more dangerous and harder to solve. Indeed, no country 
can insulate itself from these threats nor solve these transnational challenges alone. 
The post-Cold War period has demonstrated that multilateralism can play a critical role 
in helping governments and other actors in preventing or managing a range of crises, 
from humanitarian emergencies and state failure to epidemics and natural disasters. Yet, 
in the current multi-polar and complex global context, international institutions and the 
political relationships on which they are based have been severely challenged. Many 
intemational institutions are facing rapid and turbulent evolution. This is true for the 
intemational financial institutions, which are facing challenges to their political legitimacy 
and the risk of an increasing number of client countries in crisis or failure. It is also true 
for sectoral institutions like the International Atomic Energy Agency, which faces 
challenges in fulfilling its mandate given changing technological and political 
circumstances. Even regional institutions like the European Union (EU), North Atlantic 
Treaty Organization (NATO), and the African Union (AU) face major internal and 
external challenges to their core political and operational foundations. 
Many reforms have been attempted in the past. The agenda proposed by the UN 
Secretary-General in the World Summit in September 2005 was the most recent and 
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comprehensive endeavor. Whether the 2005 Summit should be read as a success or a 
failure, it was nonetheless a major step in a longer reform effort. The Outcome 
Document provides only a partial indication of the state of debate, but can be seen as an 
open-ended foundation from which to move forward. 
Much of the intellectual capital and political interest that exist on the subject of an 
effective multilateral system need not to be dissipated. However, the concrete steps to 
enhance the multilateral system will be seized or lost depending on the nature and 
quality of new initiatives. Too often, in fact, the answer has been to create new bodies 
focused on specific challenges rather than to bring coherence to an increasingly 
fragmented collection of mismatched global and regional policies and institutions. 
Moreover, many attempts ended up to be mere intellectual exercises due to the nature 
of the participants in the process — mainly past government officials who cannot provide 
the political buy-in necessary to implement the reforms. 
In a multilayered and interconnected global landscape, the weakness and incoherence 
of the current multilateral system impedes robust responses. For policy-makers faced 
with actual crises, this uncertainty about multilateral institutions and their reliability 
constrains options for policy response and raises real concerns about collective capacity 
for crisis prevention and response. 
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