Just security and global governance: from UN75 to the Pact for the Future, and on to UN100

Abstract

In this article, as part of The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs’ 50th anniversary issue, we revisit the main assessment and recommendations from our Winter 2020 Fletcher Forum piece entitled “Reinvigorating Global Governance Through ‘Just Security.’” We reflect on how world affairs and global challenges have evolved in the past five years, painting an overall even more daunting picture. At the same time, we show how the discourse around, and to some extent, changes in global governance reform debates, have moved significantly during this period, culminating in the September 2024 Pact for the Future. We contend that in this environment, the quest for security and justice through global governance only becomes more urgent, that the Pact can be a universal platform for pursuing this goal further, and—looking further ahead—that the momentum for innovation needs to be sustained if the 100th anniversary of the United Nations in 2045 is to be a cause of celebration rather than of wistful remembrance.