Bâli and Moyn Urge 4-Point Antiwar Pact for Multipolar Order as Arms Spending Hits $2.9 Trillion
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 29
Bâli and Moyn Urge 4-Point Antiwar Pact for Multipolar Order as Arms Spending Hits $2.9 Trillion
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 29
Summary
Aslı Bâli and Samuel Moyn argue that US-led unipolarity is in decline and should not be revived, proposing a four-point antiwar agenda built for a rivalrous multipolar world.
Their plan would tighten limits on self-defense claims under Article 51, reject annexation by force, bar powers from fueling proxy wars, and curb arms transfers that foreseeably enable aggression or atrocities.
The authors frame the bargain as deliberately narrow: mutual restraint based on self-interest rather than shared ideals, warning that unconstrained coercion by one power quickly becomes a precedent for its rivals.
They cite the war on terror, Russia's war in Ukraine and the US-Israeli war on Iran as evidence that preventive war, proxy conflict and selective enforcement have made the current order more violent.
Arms trade concentration underscores the challenge: world military spending reached nearly $2.9 trillion in 2025, with the US supplying 42% of global arms exports and the UN Security Council's permanent five nearly 68%.