The Group of Eight has become a central actor in global governance with a steadily expanding role and agenda. The leaders' summits remain at the apex of the G8 system, but the leaders' work is complemented by intensifying and expanding networks of ministerial fora as well as various task forces and expert groups. Some of these entities, initially launched by the leaders, have taken on a life of their own with an agenda that diverges from the main concerns of the summits. Following on from Hajnal's acclaimed book The G7/G8 System, this volume discusses the origins, characteristics, evolution, role and agenda of the G7 and G8 system, including a systematic survey of its components. It introduces the major debates about the G7 and G8, looks at proposals to reform the G8-G20 and provides a detailed study of the complex, elusive and changing patterns of documentation of the broader G8-G20 system, including electronic information.

This important book is an authoritative work of reference on the G20, G8 and G20 reform, and relevant information sources. Peter Hajnal thoroughly traces the origins of the G20, surveys the G20 finance ministers' meetings since 1999 and the series of G20 summits since 2008. He examines agenda-setting and agenda evolution, discusses the question of G20 membership and surveys the components of the G20 system. He goes on to analyze the relationship of the G20 with international governmental organizations, the business sector, and civil society and looks at the current relationship between the G8 and the G20. He also discusses how G20 performance can be monitored and evaluated. The book includes an extensive bibliography on the G20, G8/G20 reform, and issues of concern to the G20. The book is a companion volume to The G8 System and the G20: Evolution, Role and Documentation (Hajnal, 2007) and is an essential source for all scholars and students of the G20.

The Group of Eight has become a central actor in global governance with a steadily expanding role and agenda. The leaders' summits remain at the apex of the G8 system, but the leaders' work is complemented by intensifying and expanding networks of ministerial fora as well as various task forces and expert groups. Some of these entities, initially launched by the leaders, have taken on a life of their own with an agenda that diverges from the main concerns of the summits. Following on from Hajnal's acclaimed book The G7/G8 System, this volume discusses the origins, characteristics, evolution, role and agenda of the G7 and G8 system, including a systematic survey of its components. It introduces the major debates about the G7 and G8, looks at proposals to reform the G8-G20 and provides a detailed study of the complex, elusive and changing patterns of documentation of the broader G8-G20 system, including electronic information.

Offers steps to bring the G20 into even more relevance in becoming a leading force in the global economy, rivaling even that of the G8. Original.

Climate change control has risen to the top of the international agenda. Failed efforts, centred in the United Nations, to allocate responsibility have resulted in a challenge now reaching crisis stage. John J. Kirton and Ella Kokotsis analyse the generation and effectiveness of four decades of intergovernmental regimes for controlling global climate change. Informed by international relations theories and critical of the prevailing UN approach, Kirton and Kokotsis trace the global governance of climate change from its 1970s origins to the present and demonstrate the effectiveness of the plurilateral summit alternative grounded in the G7/8 and the G20. Topics covered include: - G7/8 and UN competition and convergence on governing climate change - Kyoto obligations and the post-Kyoto regime - The role of the G7/8 and G20 in generating a regime beyond Kyoto - Projections of and prescriptions for an effective global climate change control regime for the twenty-first century. This topical book synthesizes a rich array of empirical data, including new interview and documentary material about G7/8 and G20 governance of climate change, and makes a valuable contribution to understanding the dynamics of governing climate change. It will appeal to scholars, researchers, and policy makers interested in the dynamics behind governance processes within the intergovernmental realm.

This book offers the most thorough, detailed inside story of the preparation, negotiation, performance, and achievements of G20 gatherings from their start at the finance level in 1999 through their rise to become leader-level summits in response to the great global financial crisis in 2008. Follow the moves of America’s George Bush and Barack Obama, Britain’s Gordon Brown and David Cameron, Canada’s Stephen Harper, Germany’s Angela Merkel, and other key leaders as they struggle to contain the worst global recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. This book provides a full chapter-long account of each of the first four G20 summits from Washington to Toronto with summaries of the ensuing summits. It uses international relations theory to build and apply a model of systemic hub governance to back its central claim to show convincingly that G20 performance has grown to successfully govern an increasingly interconnected, complex, crisis-ridden, globalized twenty-first century world.

Explains how actors control access to international resources, creating a stratified international system of political equals and unequals.