29 April 2025
Multilateral Matters – April 2025
The International Order: Riding the Waves of Change
The rules-based international order is facing an unprecedented existential test, as shifting geopolitics and escalating strategic rivalries compel regional and multilateral institutions to adapt—or be transformed entirely—in the face of lingering uncertainty. Can the existing international order successfully ride the waves of change?
Featured Commentary
Prospects for Multilateralism at the End of the Liberal Order by Joel Ng
In this issue’s featured commentary, Dr Joel Ng, Research Fellow and Head of CMS, explores President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order which ended US funding for several UN organizations, what it forebodes for the international order, and how the rest of the world can minimise the impending disruptions to multilateralism. Dr Ng argues that regional groupings like ASEAN can serve as a buffer for smaller states to manage the pressures of uncertainty in the global environment, but ASEAN-led venues for dialogue like the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit should be retrofitted to “more effectively address the issues of the day”.
CMS Events
- On 23-24 January, CMS conducted a training course for Singaporean civil servants entitled “Understanding ASEAN” at the Civil Service College. The workshop consisted of seven module sessions providing an overview of ASEAN security and economic cooperation, an ASEAN summit simulation exercise, and a fireside chat with Amb Ong Keng Yong, Executive Deputy Chairman of RSIS.
- On 27 February, CMS held its annual workshop with the theme “Managing Pressures and Transitions: ASEAN’s Agency in an Unsettled World”. This year’s workshop featured panel discussions in ASEAN’s role in the evolving regional security architecture, its continuing efforts to pursue digital integration, and the progress in implementing the ASEAN Power Grid (APG) project.
- On 26 March, CMS hosted a seminar entitled “Multilateralism in an Era of Transactional Realpolitik: Lessons for Asia” featuring Prof Nick Bisley, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University, and Assoc Prof Kei Koga of the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University.
The International Order: Riding the Waves of Change
The rules-based international order is facing an unprecedented existential test, as shifting geopolitics and escalating strategic rivalries compel regional and multilateral institutions to adapt—or be transformed entirely—in the face of lingering uncertainty. Can the existing international order successfully ride the waves of change?
Featured Commentary
Prospects for Multilateralism at the End of the Liberal Order by Joel Ng
In this issue’s featured commentary, Dr Joel Ng, Research Fellow and Head of CMS, explores President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order which ended US funding for several UN organizations, what it forebodes for the international order, and how the rest of the world can minimise the impending disruptions to multilateralism. Dr Ng argues that regional groupings like ASEAN can serve as a buffer for smaller states to manage the pressures of uncertainty in the global environment, but ASEAN-led venues for dialogue like the ASEAN Regional Forum and the East Asia Summit should be retrofitted to “more effectively address the issues of the day”.
CMS Events
- On 23-24 January, CMS conducted a training course for Singaporean civil servants entitled “Understanding ASEAN” at the Civil Service College. The workshop consisted of seven module sessions providing an overview of ASEAN security and economic cooperation, an ASEAN summit simulation exercise, and a fireside chat with Amb Ong Keng Yong, Executive Deputy Chairman of RSIS.
- On 27 February, CMS held its annual workshop with the theme “Managing Pressures and Transitions: ASEAN’s Agency in an Unsettled World”. This year’s workshop featured panel discussions in ASEAN’s role in the evolving regional security architecture, its continuing efforts to pursue digital integration, and the progress in implementing the ASEAN Power Grid (APG) project.
- On 26 March, CMS hosted a seminar entitled “Multilateralism in an Era of Transactional Realpolitik: Lessons for Asia” featuring Prof Nick Bisley, Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University, and Assoc Prof Kei Koga of the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University.
