A G-8 Primer

From July 15 to 17 the leaders of the Group of Eight will meet in St. Petersburg, Russia for the Group’s yearly summit. The G-8 began in 1975 as the G-6—the U.S., the U.K, France, Italy, West Germany and Japan—the six largest market economies meeting in the midst of the economic turmoil of the 1970’s. The group became the G-7 in 1976 with the inclusion of Canada and, as of 1977 the European Community (and then the EU) was included in the discussions though the group remained known as the “G-7.”

During the Cold War the G-7 was widely perceived to be an economic and political coordinating group of the Western powers, a sort of “economic NATO.” Summits of the G-7 were newsworthy but of a lesser caliber than the epochal US-USSR summits. Military issues, after all, were generally considered paramount (unless when we were in an oil crisis).

The end of the Cold War saw the G-7 rise both in importance and in controversy. Out were the calculations of nuclear throw-weights, in was opining about GDP growth rates. During the Cold War, there was a concern of European instability due to Soviet strength; after the Cold War and the dissolution of the USSR, the fear was of instability due to Russian weakness. In 1994 Russia was invited to attend the G-7 summit in a group that become known as the Political-Eight, or P-8, tacitly noting that Russia was there not due to its economic strength (actually for the lack of it) but its political clout. Definitional technicalities (and embarrassing “one of these things just doesn’t belong here” titles) were tossed in the next year and the group was just called the G-8.

In contrast to the Cold War years, G-8 summits in the 1990’s were often viewed as being very important. But with newfound credibility came controversy as G-8 summits (along with the World Bank/IMF yearly meetings and WTO summits, which previously had only been noticed by policy wonks) became lighting rods for the anti-globalization movement.

While the G-8 doesn’t make international law—sign treaties and such—and it is not a “deep institution” with permanent secretariat (as in the cases of the WTO or the EU), it is an example of how international cooperation can spread. Most obviously, it has spread geographically from the G-6 to the current G-8. Moreover, in 1999, there was an inaugural meeting of “G-20” finance ministers and central bankers from G-8 countries plus other globally significant counties in addressing monetary instability worldwide. As the G-6 was borne of the oil crisis, one can say the G-20 was designed by the G-8 as a response to the currency crises of the late 1990’s. It was also a means of including states such as China, Brazil, India, and Saudi Arabia without permanently changing the smaller, more tightly-knit, G-8 in any permanent way.

The original G-6 has grown not only geographically, but also in terms of subject-matter. Beyond macro-economic issues, the G-8 has been a forum of addressing topics as varied as the War on Terrorism and the information revolution. It has become possibly the best means for (most of ) the leading industrialized nations to meet, consider issues of mutual interest, and come to an understanding as to a common response, if any. The G-8 summit now includes, partially in response to the anti-globalization protests that highlighted the “democracy deficit” of such a conclave of mandarins, a “civil society summit” of NGOs, known as the “Civil G-8.” There is also a host pf preparatory meetings at the ministerial level during the year that covers a wide variety of policy areas.

I’ll write more later in the week on the various topics being considered (or not considered) in this year’s summit and on the G-8 and international law more generally. But, for now, anyone interested in tracking this year’s G-8 summit, the first that will be hosted by Russia, should see the University of Toronto’s excellent G-8 Information Center and the G-8 Live website.