The Group of Twenty (G20)

The Group of Twenty book will provide a concise examination of the purpose, function and practice of the Group of Twenty (G20) summit with particular attention to its designation as a new "premier forum for international economic cooperation." Although providing a historical account of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors process, the main focus of the book will be on the conditions, events and debates that led to the formation of the permanent, expanded leaders' level forum. The historical span of the G20 Summit process is not long, but the global transformations that precipitated it are crucial for the analysis.Two central themes will guide the analysis of this book; first, an examination of "accumulating global deadlocks", which provide a framework of the functional deficiencies plaguing the global system; and second, "incremental institutional innovations", which will detail the patchwork of reforms to the institutions of global governance that led into the transformation of the G20's role. The book will explore a variety of major debates, including; governance by clubs versus multilateralism; the legitimacy of informal leadership; the issue of the G20's composition of both 'solution' countries and 'problem' countries; the role of the emerging powers; and, new conceptions of North-South relationships. It will address the array of functional challenges at the core of the global system.This book will provide insight and analysis on the G20 beyond its composition, offering a detailed examination of the ongoing shift in economic power and the momentum toward global institutional reform. This book takes into account the technical orientation of the G20 Finance and its financial agenda but will drill deeper on contextual issues. This book will also be produced very timely, following the early incarnations of the G20 at the leaders' level. It will draw from experiences of the initial four summits; Washington (Nov'08), London (Apr'09), Pittsburgh (Sept'09) and Muskoka (Jun'10). Over this short but intense history, the book will show how the G20 has moved from a crisis committee to the premier global forum, and will map out its comparative advantages and key challenges ahead.