Trend From cooperation to competition: a fragmenting world order

Summary

The report finds that in recent years the emphasis has moved from international cooperation and integration toward competition and friction, which it calls a fragmenting world order. Global institutions appear weaker and carry less authority than before. The report sees this fragmentation in the sharper rivalry between the United States and China and in the way states such as Russia and Israel disregard international treaties. With competing blocs and systems of norms taking shape, hybrid threats are becoming a structural feature of this geopolitical setting. Because rising tensions show that nation states acting alone are less effective, the report expects the Netherlands to lean more on EU coordination in foreign and security policy and on joint tools such as sanctions, energy policy and defence cooperation.