The G20: A New Geopolitical Order (ceri Series In International Relations And Political Economy)

## Introduction order arose from a combination of chance and necessity. It is partly the product of improvisation. It is also a logical consequence of the socioeconomic evolution of the world. The structure of the UN was pondered for many years and negotiated among the Allies for months during the deliberations that took place at Dumbarton Oaks from August to October 1944. The European Coal and Steel Community, the future EU, was the outcome of countless projects, drafts and trial balloons before resulting in an agreement among the six founding countries. The G20 came together in the wake of events and transformations that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 2008, it was in the right place at the right time. The G20 is the result of a complex yet partly familiar chain of events that includes the Asian financial crisis of the 1990s and its aftermath, the involvement of certain nations -especially Singapore and Canada -and the economic development of the so-called emerging powers. Before being a summit for heads of state and government, up until 2008 the G20 was a forum for finance ministers and central bank governors. And before bringing together 19 countries and one regional organization, between 1997 and 1999 the Group of Twenty was made up of 14 countries, then 22, and then 23. At the very start, it was not a "G" followed by a number but the Manila Framework Group. It acted as a crisis management forum to deal with the financial turmoil affecting East Asia, then the most dynamic region in the world. Under Singapore's initiative and with US backing, the Manila Framework became a coordination group operating beyond the Asia-Pacific region. The group expanded to become the G33. Its members themselves expressed the feeling that it was too unwieldy. The G7 finance ministers suggested trimming it down, resulting in the G20. The new group was the result of a balance sought between size of GDP and regional representativeness. It operated in this way from 1999 to 2008, for the most part out of the public eye; then came the burst of the American real estate bubble and the ensuing economic crises that hit developed countries one after the other. France, which held the EU presidency at the time, backed by the United Kingdom, argued for an emergency summit meeting, a meeting that the Europeans believed should be held in Washington. The White House agreed. But who was to be invited? Why not the G20? The group had been functioning at the ministerial level for nearly ten years; it merely had to be upgraded a step. That way it became possible to forego arduous diplomatic negotiations over the list of participants for which there was no time. "The composition of the Group of Twenty or G20 reflects the metamorphosis of world politics. In contrast with other 'Gs' (G8, G77) its members are both developed and emerging economies, democracies and authoritarian regimes, secular and religious governments. This book argues that the G20 is neither a global executive board for a new world order, nor is it just a crisis unit for failing economies. It is a laboratory for the observation, experimentation and invention of new forms of international cooperation that are redefining global politics"--Publisher Front Matter....Pages i-xv The G20 in the Constellation of Gs....Pages 1-24 Does the G20 Lack Legitimacy?....Pages 25-47 The End of “The West and the Rest”....Pages 48-69 Conclusion: The G20, A New Grand Geopolitical Narrative?....Pages 70-73 Back Matter....Pages 74-112