ABSTRACT
The multilateral rules-based world order was already under threat from the rise of populism, China, and instability in US politics before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted global diplomacy and brought about far-reaching economic crises. In response, nation-states have adapted to emerging nationalism amid the US–China trade war. Such multifaceted disruption forced nation-states to re-evaluate their traditional foreign aid partnerships, resulting in a weakened commitment to existing multilateral institutions. Such institutional exhaustion provided opportunities for China and Russia to challenge the existing rules-based world order through foreign aid. The result has been a parallel, albeit novel, world order for developing nations, resembling a competing form of neo-Cold War diplomacy. The foreign relations strategies of the US under Biden have resulted in a fragile balance of competition and cooperation between the major global powers, supported by the UK and Australian leadership and the strategic interests of other countries. This chapter examines foreign aid amid changing patterns of geopolitics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and multilateral institutional exhaustion. It focuses on the shift in global geopolitics towards a new multipolarity that threatens to undo the much-lauded success of global capitalism and the rules-based world order upon which such success is presupposed.
