#21 – Qahir Dhanani: Multilateralism in an Age of Coalitions

Qahir Dhanani is a Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where he leads engagements with multilateral and international financial institutions, as well as with donor and philanthropic agencies. Prior to joining BCG, Qahir held senior positions at the World Bank, including Advisor to the CEO, and began his career at the Aga Khan Development Network. Born in Kenya and raised in Canada, Qahir brings a deeply international perspective to his work on development finance, institutional reform, and global governance. He joined us for this conversation in a personal capacity.

We open by exploring Qahir's personal journey into the world of multilateralism, shaped by his family's move from Kenya to Canada at the dawn of the first Gulf War. From there, we ask Qahir to define multilateralism beyond the summits and headlines, and he makes the case that international cooperation quietly underpins the mundane parts of everyday life - from telecommunications to air travel. We trace the evolution of multilateral institutions across decades of geopolitical change & discuss why today's talk of institutional gridlock echoes tensions the system has weathered before, from the Cold War to the end of globalization's heyday.

The conversation turns to the concept of "variable geometry" and the growing role of coalitions of small & middle powers in tackling shared challenges, from digital governance to AI regulation. We explore Qahir’s co-authored article in Devex on the priorities facing the incoming UN Secretary-General, discussing the difference between acting as a custodian versus an architect of the institution, and what it will take to rebuild trust with citizens, politicians, and UN staff alike. Qahir also shares a memorable analogy about institutional "salamander rules" to explain how bureaucratic processes calcify over time and how AI could help institutions become faster & leaner without abandoning the safeguards that matter. We close by discussing how the private sector's relationship with multilateral institutions is shifting from transactional to collaborative, and why the next wave of innovation and investment opportunity lies in Africa.

*****

Qahir Dhanani

BCG: https://www.bcg.com/about/people/experts/qahir-dhanani

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/qahir

*****

Mihaela Carstei, Paul M. Bisca, & Johan Bjurman Bergman co-host F-World: The Fragility Podcast. 

X: https://x.com/fworldpodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fworldpodcast/

Website: https://f-world.org

Music:"Tornado" by Wintergatan. This track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.net.

Video editing by: Alex Mitran - Facebook (facebook.com/alexmmitran), X (x.com/alexmmitran),or LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/alexmmitran)

EPISODE RESOURCES:

Qahir Dhanani, Jim Larson, “Thenext UN chief must architect a new era of multilateralism,” DEVEX, March 11, 2026

https://www.devex.com/news/the-next-un-chief-must-architect-a-new-era-of-multilateralism-112027

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:00 Intro

00:01:20 Qahir's background

00:03:45 What is multilateralism & what has it brought us?

00:08:07 Responding to the critique that multilateral institutions are stuck in the past

00:12:42 Is globalization the driving force of multilateralism: Variable geometry and coalitions

00:14:54 The cost of systemic fragmentation

00:17:45 Sovereignty vs. shared benefit – the case for mini-lateral cooperation

00:21:09 Digital sovereignty & the case for global AI governance

00:25:22 Custodian vs. architect: what the next UN Secretary General must be

00:29:30 Reform, modernization, & representation – the challenges ahead

00:34:58 Rebuilding trust & cutting through institutional bureaucracy

00:40:21 Using AI to streamline institutions without cutting corners

00:43:07 What does the private sector want from multilateral reform?

00:48:14 Public-private partnership in practice

00:51:01 Innovation & investment opportunities beyond Europe and the US

00:55:05 Advice for the next UN Secretary-General