Eurasia Review
14 November 2014
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- G20 and Global Governance: Can it do Better? – Analysis
G20 and Global Governance: Can it do Better? – Analysis
The G20 convenes this weekend in Brisbane for yet another summit. In the aftermath of the recent global financial crisis, some wonder whether the G20 still has relevance. Can this exclusive group of world leaders be the hope of global governance?
The world needs more global governance than it has at present. At the same time, sovereign countries are reluctant to cede power to a supra-national body. As a result, there are big differences of opinion about just what form this global governance should take.
When G20 Leaders first met in 2008, it seemed that this grouping might be the key institution for global governance of economic issues, taking over from the unrepresentative G7. Its early years were promising. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, it helped coordinate global fiscal stimulus and pressured countries to resist the sort of protectionist measures that had caused the downward spiral of global trade during the 1930s depression. As the crisis diminished, however, so too did G20’s relevance.
…Stephen Grenville is NTUC Professor of International Economic Relations at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. He is also a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney and a former Deputy Governor and Board Member of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
RSIS / Online
Last updated on 17/11/2014
