The article by Muhammad Khujanazarov, UWED undergraduate and an intern at IAIS, and Julia Davies, lecturer at UWED and a Visiting Research Fellow at IAIS, examines how the post-war liberal international order, built around the IMF, World Bank, WTO and progressively liberalised global trade, has come under pressure since the 2008 global financial crisis. The authors argue that the slowdown of globalisation, rising geopolitical rivalry, weakened multilateral institutions, and growing dissatisfaction among emerging economies have created space for regional alliances to assume stronger governance roles.

Focusing on ASEAN/RCEP, BRICS+, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the article shows how these regional groupings are no longer merely supplementary platforms within the global order. Instead, they are developing independent trade rules, financial mechanisms, security practices, and normative frameworks that increasingly challenge Western-dominated multilateralism. ASEAN/RCEP is analysed through trade governance, BRICS+ through financial counter-hegemony and de-dollarisation, and the SCO through security cooperation based on sovereignty and non-interference.

The central argument is that the world is moving towards a more fragmented and multipolar system of governance, where global institutions and regional organisations coexist, compete, and overlap. The authors conclude that regional alliances are unlikely to fully replace established international organisations, but they are already reshaping the rules, norms, and balance of authority in international relations.

* The Institute for Advanced International Studies (IAIS) does not take institutional positions on any issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IAIS.