Key takeaways

• The COVID-19 crisis has shown both the importance of viable global organizations and their limitations.

• China has demonstrated its global ambition and willingness to use global public fora accordingly.

• Lack of US leadership during the crisis has damaged its soft power reputation and might undermine its positions in the multilateral system. However, the US remains the most powerful state and the leader in innovation and research.

• Other Western countries have tried filling the vacuum left by the US.

You can download the entire report as a pdf.