AT a time when good news is scarce, it was gratifying to see Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay receive the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay is a South African judge at the International Court of Justice and former UN high commissioner for human rights. She chaired the UN Commission of Inquiry that concluded last year that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Such symbolic support for justice, human rights, and international law has been much wanting in recent years.

Sadly, Pillay’s prize can also be perceived as a eulogy for international rule of law, which has been flagrantly disregarded, particularly in conflict contexts — from the targeting of civilian infrastructure to the use of chemical weapons and genocidal acts. As if to ring the death knell of the rules-based order, hours after Pillay received the honour, the US sanctioned the International Criminal Court (ICC), a punitive measure that would make it impossible for the court to function.

That we now inhabit a multipolar, post-liberal democratic world order is evident. But moments like these highlight the extent to which the world we’ve known has been torn asunder. The collapse of liberal democratic norms leaves a vacuum which countries must now consider how to fill. This is not........

© Dawn