We know it is too much to ask of the twenty most influential economic powers to get together – regularly – and in the most diplomatic fashion, to untangle all the strings attached to the impossible financial knot.
But isn’t it, after all, the goal of these sorts of summits – where superpowers and rising stars meet, greet, and talk about policies – to lessen the burden on the global economy, both through individual action and collaborative group efforts?
Solutions, or some semblance of practical prescriptions that won’t make things worse, are what these countries are shooting for; but nineteen independent actors and the EU, each with distinct financial objectives and economic worldviews, are a lot to keep track of.
And even harder to coordinate in just over 24 hours.
But why should they? The goal of the G20, according to experts, isn’t to adopt one universal policy that serves the perspectives of everyone; it never was, and probably never should be. One collective action plan is too much to expect from this organization.
Instead, three big names – China, the U.S., and the EU – are continuing to drive the Cannes agenda, now that attention is no longer fixed on Greece, which started barreling down the road to referendum and changed its charted route along the way.
The powerful three are likely to run the agenda again in Mexico in 2012, and in other summits to come, though there’s room for mid-sized players like Japan, Australia, Korea, and India to gain traction.
“You first have to get the three big ones to agree,” Yves Tiberghien, associate professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, said about the U.S., China, and the EU.
A medium-sized player, like Japan, can play a big role, he pointed out, but it doesn’t always choose to.
In Cannes, Russia is an example of this.
“I see that the G20 is not as important as BRICS or G8 [summits] for promoting Russian interests,” Victoria Panova of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said.
She noted that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev left the Summit a day early to return to Russia to celebrate National Unity Day, a public holiday in the country on November 4. She added that this might signal the relative insignificance of Russia to the G20, insignificance of the G20 to Russia, or simply a miscommunication between French and Russian leaders.
The G20 Summit calendar is coordinated around the various holidays and important events of each member country, and in previous years was even rearranged to accommodate the World Cup.
France and Germany, key members of the EU and therefore part of the G20’s “driving three,” have contributed to the agenda by introducing one of the meeting's biggest issues, the proposed Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).
The tax, which would put an international tariff on financial transactions, is a Franco-German project, supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy (who said the levy was “morally essential” yesterday) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, push-back from Britain, the U.S., Canada, and Australia has halted progress.
Nonetheless, the issue is on the table, and has dominated much of the conversation for two days, which underscores the influence of the core three.
Hugo Dobson, of Sheffield University located in the UK, said Japan, which is outside the China, U.S., and EU bubble, had “mixed messages coming from the country beforehand about the FTT, and it’s still inconclusive.”
The FTT is perhaps the best example of a proposed policy that might be hard for twenty separate entities with different financial prerogatives and moral imperatives to agree upon. Especially in fewer than two days.
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Political Games and Power at the G20
November 4, 2011
We know it is too much to ask of the twenty most influential economic powers to get together – regularly – and in the most diplomatic fashion, to untangle all the strings attached to the impossible financial knot.
But isn’t it, after all, the goal of these sorts of summits – where superpowers and rising stars meet, greet, and talk about policies – to lessen the burden on the global economy, both through individual action and collaborative group efforts?
Solutions, or some semblance of practical prescriptions that won’t make things worse, are what these countries are shooting for; but nineteen independent actors and the EU, each with distinct financial objectives and economic worldviews, are a lot to keep track of.
And even harder to coordinate in just over 24 hours.
But why should they? The goal of the G20, according to experts, isn’t to adopt one universal policy that serves the perspectives of everyone; it never was, and probably never should be. One collective action plan is too much to expect from this organization.
Instead, three big names – China, the U.S., and the EU – are continuing to drive the Cannes agenda, now that attention is no longer fixed on Greece, which started barreling down the road to referendum and changed its charted route along the way.
The powerful three are likely to run the agenda again in Mexico in 2012, and in other summits to come, though there’s room for mid-sized players like Japan, Australia, Korea, and India to gain traction.
“You first have to get the three big ones to agree,” Yves Tiberghien, associate professor of political science at the University of British Columbia, said about the U.S., China, and the EU.
A medium-sized player, like Japan, can play a big role, he pointed out, but it doesn’t always choose to.
In Cannes, Russia is an example of this.
“I see that the G20 is not as important as BRICS or G8 [summits] for promoting Russian interests,” Victoria Panova of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said.
She noted that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev left the Summit a day early to return to Russia to celebrate National Unity Day, a public holiday in the country on November 4. She added that this might signal the relative insignificance of Russia to the G20, insignificance of the G20 to Russia, or simply a miscommunication between French and Russian leaders.
The G20 Summit calendar is coordinated around the various holidays and important events of each member country, and in previous years was even rearranged to accommodate the World Cup.
France and Germany, key members of the EU and therefore part of the G20’s “driving three,” have contributed to the agenda by introducing one of the meeting's biggest issues, the proposed Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).
The tax, which would put an international tariff on financial transactions, is a Franco-German project, supported by French President Nicolas Sarkozy (who said the levy was “morally essential” yesterday) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, push-back from Britain, the U.S., Canada, and Australia has halted progress.
Nonetheless, the issue is on the table, and has dominated much of the conversation for two days, which underscores the influence of the core three.
Hugo Dobson, of Sheffield University located in the UK, said Japan, which is outside the China, U.S., and EU bubble, had “mixed messages coming from the country beforehand about the FTT, and it’s still inconclusive.”
The FTT is perhaps the best example of a proposed policy that might be hard for twenty separate entities with different financial prerogatives and moral imperatives to agree upon. Especially in fewer than two days.
