'Don't be spectators', Finnish President tells Kenyan youths on new world order

Finland President Alexander Stubb speaking during a public lecture at the University of Nairobi on May 13th 2025. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

The visiting President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, has urged Kenyan youth to take up a strategic role in shaping a new world order.

President Stubb made the remarks while delivering a public lecture on 'Geopolitics and the Transformation of the Multilateral Order' to students at the University of Nairobi on Tuesday morning, as part of his ongoing state visit to Kenya.

"Don't be spectators in this. You have agency and the capacity to change what the world is going to look like," said President Stubb.

According to the Finnish leader, the world has descended into a form of disorder, as nations increasingly pursue self-interests, particularly in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's return to power.

Trump has so far prioritised transactional relationships, often pushing for trade deals that align with his Make America Great Again (MAGA) doctrine.

President Stubb noted that this inward-looking approach has shifted the world from multilateral cooperation to competition, fuelling tensions such as the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.

"We went from bipolar, to unipolar, to multipolar, and now we are in what I would call a world of disorder. I personally think that this disorder will take five to ten years to settle," he remarked.

He contrasted today's undefined global landscape with the past, when geopolitical lines were drawn clearly between the communist Soviet Union and the capitalist West led by the United States. He added that the global West now seems leaderless, with the U.S. drifting further from its traditional allies under Trump.

President Stubb also called for reforms at the United Nations Security Council, pushing for more diverse representation and the elimination of veto powers held by the five permanent members.

"It is completely unacceptable that we have a UN Security Council which was created after the Second World War in the image of the victors. You have one seat in Asia, three in Europe, and one in America, all of them with veto power," lamented Stubb.

"That does not reflect what the world looks like right now."

Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa have challenged this order through the formation of BRICS, a bloc that now includes ten member states.

President Alexander Stubb will conclude his historical State visit to Kenya, the first by a Finnish President, on Tuesday, May 13, as the two nations mark 60 years of diplomatic relations.