Club governance through the G20
The institutions and organisations we have examined on the course thus far are all formal institutions able to commit states to binding decisions (e.g. the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation). They have formal statutes, a headquarters (e.g. the UN, IMF and World Bank are all based in the US), and a permanent staff. In recent years, however, there has been a significant rise in the influence of informal global governance organisations, with the G8 (now the G7 after the suspension of Russia in 2014) and – especially – the G20 the most prominent of these. Rooted in an acknowledgement that it is difficult to get states to formally agree to commit to certain actions, the G7 and G20 are essentially ‘clubs’ – they do not represent all states but a subset of them, with the basic idea being that a smaller number of influential state powers can more efficiently and effectively address global problems.
But their ‘club’ character invites accusations that they lack proper legitimacy and even less democratic character than the formal institutions of global governance, and so their emergence is politically controversial.
In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2007/08, for example, the G20 was ‘designated’ by its members as ‘the premier forum for our international economic cooperation’ (G20 leaders’ summit, 2009 – see http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2009/2009communique0925.html), and while the G20 represents a larger groups of countries than the G7/8, it does not enjoy the universal membership of the IMF or the World Bank. This week, then, we investigate the idea and practice of ‘club governance’, with a focus on the G20 as a particular instantiation of a club governance actor.
By the end of this week, students should be able to:
• Understand the concept of ‘club governance’ and how it differs from more ‘traditional’ or ‘formal’ mechanisms of global governance;
• Understand the G20 as a key club governance actor;
• Demonstrate an awareness of some of the opportunities and constraints afforded by the G20 as an agenda-setter in 21st century global governance.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the opportunities and limitations afforded by the club governance form
Task 1: Understanding the concept of ‘club governance’
Watch:
‘G20 explained’, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gflQCq-iywc
Guardian, ‘What is the point of the G20 anyway?’, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5Qx1E-Vc4
Visit the G20’s website to get a sense of its activities: https://www.g20.org/en/
Read:
Smith, G. S. (2011), ‘From G7 to G8 to G20: evolution in global governance’, CIGI G20 Papers, No. 6, May 2011, available online at https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/g20no6-2.pdf
