The Role of the OECD in a Fractured World

In an era of splintered supply chains, tariff crossfire, and fraying trust, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development looks, at first glance, like an institution from a gentler century: policy papers, peer review, the patient grind of consensus. Yet in a world busy erecting walls, the OECD’s quiet craft is stitching seams—standard by standard, dataset by dataset, norm by norm—so that governments still have a shared table, a shared language, and, crucially, shared evidence.

The caricature of the OECD as a “rich-country club” is easy. The reality is broader and, today, more necessary. With 38 members and work that extends far beyond them through partners and networks, the OECD functions as the world’s unflashy standards engine: it compares, measures, codifies, and nudges—creating the interoperable policy plumbing that lets countries coordinate even when politics won’t. Its mandate is simple and subversive in equal measure: to promote policies that improve people’s economic and social well-being. In a fractured world, that mission amounts to holding the centre. OECD

A standards factory in an age of splinters

The OECD’s influence rarely makes headlines because it operates upstream, where rules are drafted before they become law. Consider corporate taxation. The Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) has pushed a 15% global minimum tax (Pillar Two) from thought experiment to real policy, now rolling out across scores of jurisdictions. Pillar One—reallocating taxing rights for the largest multinationals—has been harder, slowed by domestic politics and the choreography of a multilateral convention. Even so, the framework and text exist; implementation remains a political test, not a technical one. If it lands, it will defuse a tangle of digital service taxes and reboot tax peace; if it stalls, a patchwork of unilateral measures will deepen the fracture lines. Financial Times+3OECD+3PwC+3

Tax transparency offers a cleaner success story. The OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS) turned bank secrecy from a business model into a risk, making the automatic exchange of financial account data routine. The 2025 consolidated CRS text updates the playbook; in practice, the system has already helped tax authorities unearth offshore income at scale. Standards don’t have to shout to bite. OECD+1

Beyond tax, the organisation’s AI Principles—first in 2019, updated in 2024—are the closest thing the world has to a broadly adopted, interoperable blueprint for “trustworthy AI”. They don’t legislate; they align vocabularies and expectations, a prerequisite for any cross-border rule-making that follows. oecd.ai+1

And then there is corporate conduct. The 2023 update of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises extended due-diligence expectations into the hot zones of our time: climate, biodiversity, technology and data, vulnerable groups, and lobbying. Paired with the OECD’s due-diligence guidance and National Contact Points, these “soft law” norms have teeth where reputations—and sometimes market access—are on the line. OECD+2OECD+2

The OECD’s value proposition: comparable facts in contested times

Fragmentation isn’t only about tariffs; it’s also about truth. When numbers become national flags, a trusted referee matters. The OECD’s Economic Outlooks have long served that role. The September 2025 interim report reads like a manual for living with uncertainty: do more structural reform, boost competition, cut barriers to entry, and invest in skills to harness the productivity promise of AI rather than fear it. Evidence over anecdote; policy over posture. OECD+1

Education tells a similar story. PISA doesn’t settle ideological debates in classrooms, but it gives governments a common dashboard of student performance and equity, enabling peer pressure to do what politics sometimes cannot. In a world fragmenting into incompatible systems, comparable data is a kind of diplomacy. OECD

Energy is another arena where the OECD family quietly anchors cooperation. The International Energy Agency, an autonomous body within the OECD framework, still underwrites emergency oil security and now steers analysis for the clean-energy transition—one more thread keeping markets coordinated when geopolitics tries to tug them apart. IEA

Development, fragility and the solidarity test

The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) remains the crucible of donor norms and transparency. After a record in 2023, preliminary 2024 figures showed a 7.1% fall in official development assistance. Needs rose; generosity dipped. In the fragility belt—61 contexts flagged in the 2025 States of Fragility report—such slippage is costly. Coordination and standards can’t substitute for political will, but they can at least make sure every dollar lands where it claims to. OECD+2one.oecd.org+2

Ukraine is a vivid example of the OECD’s convening utility beyond its membership. A multi-year country programme is helping map reforms, reconstruction, and eventual system integration with European economies. The price tag, tallied by the World Bank and partners, is staggering; the need for shared, scrutinised frameworks is greater still. OECD+1

What holds—and what frays

The strengths of the OECD—its evidence base, peer review, and consensual process—are also its constraints. Soft law leans on political will and peer pressure. When that will weakens, progress can stall or backslide. The organisation’s anti-bribery convention pioneered supply-side enforcement against foreign bribery; yet even here, politics intrudes. An unprecedented cancellation of a high-level mission to Hungary in 2024 underscored how enforcement leverage meets its limits when member governments won’t play ball. legalinstruments.oecd.org+1

Geoeconomic fragmentation raises the stakes. The OECD has repeatedly warned that tariff salvos and weaponised interdependence are a slow poison for growth. The point isn’t abstract: growth forecasts have already been dinged by escalating trade restrictions. In such a climate, institutions that maintain policy interoperability—common definitions, comparable statistics, compatible standards—become strategic assets. OECD+1

Trust is another pressure point. The OECD’s 2024 trust survey found fewer than half of respondents confident in their national governments across 30 countries. Fracture begets cynicism; cynicism corrodes cooperation. One of the least advertised roles of the organisation is to help rebuild technocratic credibility—through open data, lucid benchmarking, and patient explanation of trade-offs. OECD

Enlargement without dilution

If “rich-country club” was ever a fair tag, it is now a strategic liability. The OECD’s accession tracks and partner programmes are the antidote, drawing emerging powers into a standards-rich ecosystem. In 2022, the Council opened accession talks with Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru, and Romania; since then, Indonesia has signalled it wants in within a few years. Enlargement isn’t charity—it is a bet that shared rulebooks can outcompete rival blocs. OECD+1

Meanwhile, the organisation’s extended networks—like the Global Forum on Tax Transparency, now numbering well over 150 jurisdictions—show how an OECD-anchored platform can become genuinely global. At their best, these formats dilute the “club” and keep the co-operation in the name. OECD

Why the OECD matters now

So what is the OECD in 2025? Not a knight that slays dragons, nor a court that compels compliance. Think of it instead as a well-lit workshop, where governments bring their problems to be measured, compared, and solved—with norms that travel and numbers that can be trusted across borders. When countries are tempted to decouple, having a place where the wiring still matches—tax, AI, corporate conduct, capital flows, education—keeps options open.

In a fractured world, that’s more than technocracy. It’s a form of peacekeeping.

Endnotes

1. Mission and scope. OECD overview of mandate, membership and partnerships. OECD
2. Global minimum tax (Pillar Two). OECD GloBE (Pillar Two) explainer; PwC country tracker for implementation status. OECD+1
3. Pillar One status. OECD page on the Multilateral Convention for Amount A; analysis of political delays and risks of DST fragmentation. OECD+1
4. Tax transparency (CRS). OECD’s 2025 consolidated CRS text; FT coverage noting widespread adoption aiding enforcement. OECD+1
5. AI governance. OECD AI Principles updated in 2024; broader OECD AI policy hub. oecd.ai+1
6. Responsible business conduct. 2023 update to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and due-diligence guidance. OECD+1
7. Economic outlook. OECD Economic Outlook Interim Report, September 2025 (web and PDF). OECD+1
8. Education benchmarking. PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning and Equity in Education. OECD
9. Energy cooperation. IEA’s status as an autonomous organisation within the OECD framework. IEA
10. Aid and fragility. DAC announcement of record ODA in 2023; OECD preliminary 2024 ODA showing a 7.1% fall; States of Fragility 2025. OECD+2one.oecd.org+2
11. Ukraine programme and costs. OECD–Ukraine four-year country programme; World Bank estimate of reconstruction and recovery needs. OECD+1
12. Anti-bribery regime—limits and enforcement. OECD Anti-Bribery Convention background; Reuters on canceled Hungary mission. legalinstruments.oecd.org+1
13. Fragmentation warnings. OECD on risks from trade fragmentation in 2025 Outlooks; reporting on growth downgrades amid tariff escalation. OECD+1
14. Trust in government. OECD Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions – 2024 Results. OECD
15. Accession and enlargement. OECD decision (2022) to open talks with six candidates; Reuters on Indonesia’s timeline for joining. OECD+1
16. Tax transparency network scale. Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes overview. OECD

Note: All sources accessed October 27, 2025 (Australia/Sydney).