It may not seem practical to pursue an idea like QUADRO today, but this may have future. After all, the United Nations came into being after the failure of the League of Nations, said Pradeep S. Mehta, Secretary General of CUTS International, as experts gathered this week to examine whether structured cooperation among the United States, China, India and Russia could restore predictability to global governance.
A global webinar, titled "QUADRO: Reimagining Collective Leadership in a Fragmented World Order", brought together leading voices from India, China and the United States to deliberate on pragmatic collaboration among the four systemically indispensable powers in economic, technical domains such as pandemic preparedness, maritime safety, climate data sharing, space governance and crisis communication.
CUTS International and the Chintan Research Foundation (CRF) jointly organised the virtual event, moderated by Bhavna Singh, Visiting Fellow at CRF, amid deepening fragmentation in the international order and a growing leadership vacuum.
“This is the best idea out there (despite its shortcomings) and we have to start this discussion. Another worry I have is that even with a saner American administration in 2029, there will be so many things to fix that the new administration and the American people may have little bandwidth or interest in this very important reimagining the international order--which makes what CUTS is doing, starting the discussion now, so important”, said Bruce Stokes, Visiting Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Prof Justin Yifu Lin, former Chief Economist at the World Bank and currently Vice Chairman of the University Council at Peking University, added, "The current geopolitical landscape reflects a shift where economic strength directly translates into strategic influence and negotiating power. Regional cooperation platforms such as ASEAN and multilateral alliances offer constructive pathways to balance unilateral actions."
"The ongoing geopolitical rupture, intensified by the Ukraine conflict, is forcing states to confront a new and unsettled global reality," observed Indrani Talukdar, Fellow at Chintan Research Foundation. "The inability of Western powers to dictate terms to major developing economies signals a dilution of traditional dominance."
From a Chinese perspective, Prof Yu Miaojie, President of Liaoning University, highlighted the practical benefits, "As QUADRO reimagines global cooperation, China's strong upstream-downstream supply chains and capital-intensive advantages can anchor resilient global production networks."
However, not all participants embraced the proposed configuration. Bruce Stokes suggested an alternative, "In my view, a QUADRO of Europe, Japan, India and the US would have a much greater chance of success, and if we needed China to be a participant, we could make it a QUINDRO."
Anjali Shekhawat, Senior Research Associate at CUTS International, clarified the initiative's scope that "QUADRO is not envisioned as a hegemonic directorate, an ideological alliance or a replacement for existing multilateral institutions. Rather, it is a functional mechanism for minimum viable cooperation in areas of shared interest."
The webinar built on earlier momentum, including a November 2025 roundtable in Sariska, Rajasthan, which produced the 'Sariska Consensus' advocating dialogue among these powers alongside key international partners.
The discussion underscored the costs of inaction: prolonged economic uncertainty, underinvestment, climate-induced displacement and risks of large-scale confrontation. Participants called for re-centring collective risk management over polarisation between bloc formation and decoupling."
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