, Columnist
Zombies Are Running the International System
Looks almost like a white flag.
Photographer: Ali Dia/AFP via Getty Images
A worrisome parallel between the 1930s and the 2020s is that in both decades the multilateral institutions of the international system resemble the walking dead.
Today that applies to defensives alliances such as NATO as well as the bodies that regulate trade (the World Trade Organization), limit nuclear proliferation (a treaty abbreviated as NPT) and prosecute war crimes (the International Criminal Court). And of course it fits the United Nations, which is meant to guarantee the sovereignty of all member states and to prevent war.