Yeah I felt the doom & gloom of the article might've been over the top...but then I felt the same way about the pandemic so...
One thing we can see happening is that companies want to *appear* more socially conscious. This might just be a facade, and likely is in many ways, but I do think this can shift the needle a bit. Community organizations don't necessarily have to be toothless, depending on the strength of their local economies as an example.
Even nations - aka the ones with military power - don't have to just bend over for corporations and top-down groups like the EU.
As you point out the current order has taken quite a supposed licking in recent years but so far manages to hold its own against the vagaries that are thrown at it.