How to Make the G-20 Matter More
The grouping of world leaders has rarely lived up to its potential. A simple fix could change all that.
G-20 summits now regularly attract protesters.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
This week’s G-20 summit in Japan will showcase both what’s best and most frustrating about this once-promising construct for coordinating global policy. A simple institutional fix could address many of the problems. All that’s required is some bold leadership on the multilateral stage.
Founded in 1999 to include 19 countries and the European Union, the G-20 was the result of frustration with the effectiveness of existing multilateral institutions and the realization that smaller entities such as the G-7 had become insufficiently representative. It included systemically important countries and other influencers which together accounted for two-thirds of the world’s population, some 90% of its annual production and over three-quarters of its trade.