I have sat on a panel at the United Nations looking at global risk indicators, so I’m always asked what the big risk factors are. I’d like to start with the opportunities.

The international governance architecture is unravelling. It is increasingly viewed through different lenses and, in some countries, seen as irrelevant or useless. That has pushed many people to realize how important global cooperation is. We always knew it mattered, but now the value of cooperation is clearer than ever.

I see a lot of momentum building. Governments, civil society groups and activists understand what is at stake. Climate change. Disease and disease surveillance. These problems respect no borders, and only collaboration can solve them. Working alone in silos won’t.

So from now through 2027, I expect renewed momentum to strengthen the global governance system. But it won’t be a return to the old one. It will be a system that is fairer to everybody and serves the broader public better than the old one did. It has to be fair to everyone, not just some of the partners in the global governance architecture.

What it takes

To get there, we first need champions: leaders who will drive a new, or at least revised, form of global governance. Without presidents or prime ministers who take the agenda on themselves, it can falter. I hope Germany will be a big player here and one of the key drivers of a governance architecture that is fair to everyone taking part.

Some of the existing rules aren’t perfect, but they still work quite well. The question is how we improve them, whether by rewriting them or refining them. If we had five to ten solid global leaders driving this, Germany among them, it would be a huge asset. It would move us toward the world we all want, one where cooperation lets us address existential crises like climate change and AI governance.

The domestic problem

There will always be messy domestic politics. Tensions are unavoidable, and people will ask why Germany should play this role on the global stage when it has problems of its own. Political opponents can use that against a ruling government and say it is focusing on global issues rather than local ones.

But the global stage can also generate a rally-around-the-flag sentiment. Even if we disagree internally as a nation, there is something good about global collective goods, and they only come about if we compromise at the global level and make the outcome fair for everybody.

Ultimately, cooperation that is fair to everyone can help address many of our local concerns. As long as we don’t see it purely as a political game, and think about it rationally, more cooperation is much better than isolation.