PAKISTAN IS TYPICALLY viewed more as a source of geopolitical problems than as a salve to them. Yet over the past few months it has done more than just about any other country to bring about an end to the war between America and Iran.
Across the world, peacemaking by autocratic regimes is becoming the norm. In 2025 one or more of China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates were involved as mediators in at least 20 of 53 peace processes recorded worldwide, according to the School for a Culture of Peace (ECP) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
The UN's influence is rapidly diminishing, and its clout is waning. The number of UN blue helmets on the ground has plummeted, from 107,000 in 2016 to 47,000 today, while UN peacekeeping operations over the same period have also decreased, from 16 to 11.
The new mediators have some advantages over the old guard. Turkey leans on its Islamic identity to position itself as a more trustworthy intermediary for Muslim countries than Western powers, says Pinar Tank, a researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo.
The resulting deals are different, too. When Western democratic powers brokered pacts in the past they mostly tended to emphasise things like human rights, power-sharing and democratic reforms, says Allard Duursma, a researcher at ETH Zurich. The autocracies have replaced that liberal template with a focus on stability, business opportunities and trade.
