Yesterday I got to debate the role of the Group of Twenty (G20) in global governance with some heavyweight thinkers at CFR’s New York offices. The on-the-record discussion, moderated by Anne-Marie Slaughter of Princeton University, included Ian Bremmer, the head of the Eurasia Group and author of the bestselling Every Nation for Itself, and Nicolas Berggruen, author of the new book Intelligent Governance for the 21^st Century: A Middle Way between East and West. The wide-ranging conversation explored whether the G20 was up to the task of serving as the premier steering group for the world economy—much less addressing other items on the global agenda. Read more »

Coauthored with Isabella Bennett, program coordinator in the International Institutions and Global Governance program.

Last month, IIGG and the Moscow-based Institute of Contemporary Development convened the second regional meeting of the Council of Councils—a network of twenty-four policy institutions based in established and emerging states—to exchange practical ideas and solutions regarding daunting transnational challenges. The conversations highlighted growing areas of systemic global risk and thinning solidarity within the so-called international community. These trends threaten to undermine multilateral cooperation in stabilizing the global economy and preserving international peace and security. Read more »

Could a coalition of democracies help the United States address some of its more daunting global challenges?  In a new CFR working paper, Like-Minded and Capable Democracies: A New Framework for Advancing a Liberal World Order Ash Jain argues that the answer is yes. The title may be cumbersome, but Jain’s inclusion of “like-minded” and “capable” is critical. Democratic solidarity is possible only if the United States judiciously includes democracies that truly share U.S. preferences and have tangible resources to leverage for collective action. Failure to think soberly about these two criteria has doomed previous proposals to harness democracy  to U.S. strategy. Read more »

The new year is a time of hope. As 2013 dawns, optimists yearn for a period of sustained global economic growth after five years of recession, turbulence, and sluggish recovery. Achieving this scenario will require close policy coordination among governments of the world’s major economies. This places a heavy burden on the Russian Federation, which on December 1 assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Group of Twenty (G20). Read more »

– Moscow

Having recently assumed the rotating chair of the Group of Twenty (G20), the Russian government is now soliciting input on the agenda for its September 2013 meeting in St. Petersburg. Yesterday I contributed to these deliberations as a member of the “Think20”network—a consortium of independent experts from around the world. My own advice to the Russian sherpa, Ksenia Yudaeva, was that Russia should transform the G20’s nascent development agenda to address the pressing challenge of fragile states. Read more »

When one thinks of the world’s emerging powers, the mind is naturally drawn to large, sprawling developing countries like China, India, or Brazil. But there’s another dynamo we often overlook that’s increasingly making its global mark—South Korea. Despite the global downturn of the past several years, the ROK’s economy has grown at an impressive clip, becoming the world’s thirteenth largest in nominal terms. South Korea is also flexing its diplomatic muscles within the Group of Twenty (G20) and other forums, seeking to bridge entrenched divides between the global North and South, East and West. Its most impressive role, however, may be its increasing role in promoting international peace and security well beyond the Korean Peninsula. Read more »

If there’s one lesson observers have drawn from the “greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression,” it’s that our outdated system of global economic governance failed to respond and needs a major overhaul. A closer look at the performance of international institutions since 2008, however, paints a rosier picture. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Tufts professor Dan Drezner argues in a provocative new CFR working paper that “the system worked.” Despite dire predictions, major economic powers cooperated within multilateral institutions, both old and new, to prevent a global financial collapse, forestall a descent into tit-for-tat protectionism, adopt new rules of financial regulation, and adjust the governance structures of global bodies to reflect power shifts. Read more »

As often happens at G20 summits, the major diplomatic action in Los Cabos is taking place not in plenary sessions devoted to the world economy, but in discreet conversations between world leaders. Witness the bilateral meeting yesterday between presidents Obama and Putin over the deteriorating situation in Syria. That conversation suggested the outlines of a potential breakthrough, as both sides stare into the abyss of an all-out Syrian civil war. In their closing statement, Obama and Putin committed to the common goal of a “political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system that would be implemented by the Syrians themselves.” Making tangible progress toward this objective will require restraint on the part of the Obama administration, and the stomach to grant Putin the outsized diplomatic role he craves as mediator. Read more »

On Sunday, one day after Greeks vote in elections that may result in their withdrawal from the eurozone, and throw that single currency union into untested waters, leaders from the world’s twenty largest economies will gather in Los Cabos, Mexico, at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit. The eurozone crisis will undoubtedly dominate, but under the surface there are important issues of global cooperation that the leaders must not forget. Read more »

World leaders will gather June 18-20 in Los Cabos, Mexico, for the Group of Twenty nations summit. Watch the Internationalist interview below with Enrique Berruga, the president of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations, about the upcoming meeting and future of the group. Read more »