Global Cooperation has Shifted to Favor Smaller Ally Groups: WEF

Large-scale global cooperation is weakening as trade, finance, and technology links shift toward smaller, interest-based groups of countries, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said, Una Hajdari reported for Euronews.

While overall cooperation continues at a steady rate, it is increasingly taking place among smaller groups rather than across broad coalitions of countries.

The world’s multilateral machinery is slowing at the precise moment crises are multiplying. Yet global cooperation—measured across trade, capital, technology, climate, health, and security—has proved more resilient than expected.

In other words, while overall cooperation continues at a steady rate, it is increasingly taking place among smaller groups rather than across broad coalitions of countries.

That is the central finding of the latest Global Cooperation Barometer, published by the WEF, which finds that formal, UN-centered action is increasingly outpaced by conflict and distrust.

“As a new global era takes shape, multilateralism is under strain, even as global cooperation continues to deliver in some key areas,” the report stated.

Despite these challenges, the headline conclusion remains cautiously optimistic: the system is fraying, but not yet breaking.