NEW YORK, January 12 (IPS) – We’re dwelling in an age the place the world is loudly proclaiming the loss of life of empire, but reproducing its buildings. This isn’t nostalgia for colonial postcards — it’s a reinvention of overseas coverage, worldwide governance and world financial energy that resembles colonial logic excess of it does significant cooperation.
The time period “New Colonialism” feels excessive till you look not at poetry, however at energy in movement — from navy takeovers and genocides, to diplomatic withdrawal, to establishments that also perpetuate inequality and human rights’ abuses beneath the guise of neutrality.
I – The place Are We At this time
In January 2026, the USA executed what quantities to probably the most dramatic overseas intervention in Latin America in many years: a navy incursion into Venezuela ensuing within the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro. President Donald Trump brazenly declared that the U.S. would “run the nation till such time as we are able to do a secure, correct and considered transition.” This isn’t coded language — it’s overt management.
Critics and allies alike see the transfer not as a restricted counternarcotics or regulation enforcement operation (because the Administration frames it), however as a return to the previous playbook of hemispheric domination. Latin American governments from Mexico to Brazil condemned it as a violation of sovereignty — a contemporary mirror to the regime-change interventions of the twentieth century.
Analysts at International Coverage have highlighted exactly how this intervention suits into a bigger sample of U.S. overseas coverage ambition. Rishi Iyengar and John Haltiwanger word that beneath the banner of battling “narcoterrorism,” the USA has expanded the function of its navy into actions that blur the excellence between safety and political management — “including bombing alleged drug traffickers to its ever-growing checklist of duties.”
Such actions mirror a overseas coverage that’s more and more militarized and deeply unilateral in its execution.
This intervention was not an remoted blip. It suits right into a broader dynamic which suggests Washington’s strikes in Venezuela are much less about drug interdiction and extra about strategic positioning and useful resource management — particularly Venezuela’s huge oil reserves.
Within the context of a “World-Minus-One” world order the place U.S. energy is contested by China and Russia, interventionist impulses have resurfaced not as humanitarian initiatives however as geopolitical gambits.
Considered by way of the lens of colonial critique, the language of “rescuing” Venezuelans from an accused dictator echoes Kipling’s exhortation to take up the supposed ethical burden. However these centuries-old justifications masked violence and labour exploitation; at present’s rhetoric masks geopolitical self-interest.
The U.S. claims to be liberating Venezuelans from authoritarianism, but asserts management over governance and financial infrastructure — a Twenty first-century model of telling one other nation it can’t govern itself with out route from Washington. The outcome just isn’t liberation, however dependency — an indicator of colonial relationships.
II. The U.S. Withdrawal from Multilateral Establishments
If the takeover of Venezuela reads like old school empire constructing, the withdrawal from multilateral establishments is a disengagement from the very boards meant to stop that form of unilateralism.
In early 2026, the USA signed a presidential memorandum in search of to withdraw assist and participation from 66 worldwide organizations — together with quite a few United Nations companies and treaty frameworks seen as “opposite to U.S. pursuits.” This checklist incorporates each U.N. our bodies and different treaty mechanisms, extending a sample of U.S. disengagement from world governance buildings.
Among the many organizations focused are the U.N.’s inhabitants company and the framework treaty for worldwide local weather negotiations. Already, U.S. participation in historic local weather agreements just like the Paris Settlement has been rolled again, and the World Well being Group was formally exited — marking a return to a transactional, bilateral focus slightly than deep multilateral cooperation.
U.N. Secretary-Basic António Guterres responded to the announcement with remorse and a reminder of authorized obligations: assessed contributions to the common and peacekeeping budgets are binding beneath the U.N. Constitution for all member states, together with the USA. He additionally underscored that regardless of U.S. withdrawal, the companies will proceed their work for the communities that rely upon them.
This transfer comes in opposition to a backdrop by which the U.N. and different establishments are already grappling with critical inside challenges — issues that critics argue undermine their legitimacy and level to deeper governance failures. As an example, allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by U.N. peacekeepers and employees have repeatedly surfaced, with tons of of instances documented and considerations raised in regards to the trustworthiness of management responses.
In 2024 alone, peacekeeping and political missions reported over 100 allegations, and inside surveys confirmed troubling attitudes amongst employees towards misconduct.
Such abuses usually are not random flukes; students and advocates have documented persistent organizational cultures the place energy imbalances allow exploitation and harassment, and the place transparency and accountability usually lag.
These structural points don’t delegitimize the thought of multilateral cooperation — however they definitely problem claims that these establishments perform as equitable and efficient world governance mechanisms.
Worldwide non-governmental organizations (INGOs) are likewise beneath scrutiny. Critics level to instances the place support employees have perpetrated sexual abuse and exploitation or the place organizational priorities have at instances aligned extra with donor pursuits than with native wants.
A 2024 research on sexual exploitation and harassment in humanitarian work highlights how energy imbalances and weak enforcement mechanisms throughout the sector contribute to ongoing abuses that stay under-reported and inadequately addressed.
These points — throughout the U.N. and the humanitarian sector — gas frustration that multilateralism too usually protects institutional popularity on the expense of victims and native communities. That frustration helps clarify why some U.S. policymakers see these organizations as outdated or corrupt.
However the response of strolling away slightly than strengthening accountability mechanisms performs straight into the palms of those that would hole out world governance altogether.
III. It Takes Two to Tango
So, is the USA the villain on this unfolding story of fractured cooperation and revived colonial impulses? Sure — however solely partially.
There isn’t any denying that latest U.S. overseas coverage has made unilateral strikes that hurt world norms: navy intervention in sovereign states, withdrawal from key treaties and organizations, and politicized rejection of multinational cooperation mirror a retreat from shared management. But, the idea that multilateral establishments are inherently efficient, simply and past reproach is equally misplaced.
Structural weaknesses in worldwide governance — from sluggish, opaque accountability mechanisms to inadequate illustration of World South voices — have lengthy been acknowledged by students and practitioners. These deficiencies go away world organizations weak to political seize, ineffectiveness in disaster response and the perpetuation of inequalities they’re meant to dismantle.
The failures contained in the U.N. and the help sector usually are not the only fault of the USA, however of a world system that institutionalized energy hierarchies sustained by western donors, from the start.
The New Colonialism period doesn’t present up as Nineteenth-century conquest; it’s woven into the language of “curiosity,” “safety,” and “institutional reform.” Whether or not it’s a highly effective state flexing navy may beneath humanitarian pretences or “self defence”, or highly effective states strolling away from agreements that defend smaller nations’ pursuits, the sample is identical: energy asserts itself the place it could actually, and multilateral norms are handled as elective.
If this second teaches us something, it’s that saving multilateralism requires each accountability and renewal — not abandonment. Nations that champion world cooperation should tackle colonial legacies in governance, guarantee establishments are clear and accountable, and democratize decision-making.
Likewise, highly effective states should acknowledge that withdrawing from shared programs or utilizing them to additional their very own restricted pursuits, doesn’t reset energy imbalances — it entrenches them.
Ultimately, significant world cooperation can’t be the challenge of a single nation or a community of highly effective elites. It should be rooted in shared accountability and real fairness — a coalition of efforts for the frequent good, ready not solely to compromise, however to sacrifice.
Azza Karam is President of Lead Integrity and Director of Occidental School’s Kahane UN Program.
IPS UN Bureau
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