ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the challenge of managing the complexities during the 1990s and early 2000s. The greater number of players has complicated multilateral diplomacy and negotiations aimed at finding common ground to reach agreement on collective action, norms, or rules. Although multilateralism had become a norm of diplomatic practice and a fundamental feature of international organizations in the post–Second World War era, by the beginning of the twenty-first century its utility was being questioned. Initially, the discussion focused on how to make the existing multilateral system, especially the United Nations (UN), work within the rapidly changing international environment. No longer could multilateralism be simplified as just "East-West" or "North-South" negotiations. The "multi" had gained new significance and was changing the way the UN system and its member states were operating. In 2000 a momentous turn of the calendar offered the UN system and world leaders the opportunity to revise the terms of global cooperation.
