Abstract
The chapter examines how the G20 reflects the new international context since the GFC. It shows the forum achieved substantial cooperation as a crisis committee during 2008–2009, and then transformed into a steering committee for the international economy. This political significance reflected the importance of its membership for the international economy. It enabled US President George W. Bush to frame the international GFC agenda, despite claims that the US influence was declining. Bush initiated the G20 role as the main forum for multilateral economic cooperation, inviting G20 leaders to attend a summit meeting on the crisis in Washington, DC, in November 2008. The G20 gained political momentum as the preferred focus for members’ cooperation during the GFC, marginalizing alternatives such as the UN, while integrating the IMF and others within its own policy agenda as a global governance hub. The G20 reflects the growth of selective, informal inter-regional cooperation in recent years. The forum’s engagement with non-member states, IOs, and civil society groups augmented its capacities as a hub of global governance networks.
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Notes
- 1.
My own interviews with officials involved in the G20 show a common emphasis on pragmatic, achievable policy goals. The important point was “getting results”. Some G20 policy actors would like further institutional change in global economic governance to increase the representation of non-G7 states, while still emphasizing benefits of the G20 for achieving specific policy goals.
- 2.
Interview with the author, July 2015.
- 3.
Interview with the author, June 2015. This continued cooperation was confirmed by personal communication with officials from both states.
- 4.
Interview with the author, June 2015.
- 5.
Interview with the author, December 2014.
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Luckhurst, J. (2016). International Focus on the G20. In: G20 Since the Global Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55147-4_4
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