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| The 31st Gleneagles G-8 Summit as a Summit of World Capitalism: Is this the Solution? |
 PRINTABLE VERSION |
The 31st G-8 summit is scheduled to be held from July 6-8, 2005 at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. It is a summit where the heads of the state from eight industrial countries, which represent, to borrow the phrase of Mick Brooks, "the heartlands of the giant multinationals that dominate world trade and production," meet and discuss certain political and economic issues of mutual or global concern. As he has put it, "The G-8 summit meeting due to take place at Gleneagles in July is a real summit meeting of world capitalism".
About the G-8
The group of Eight (G-8) is "the coalition of eight of the world's leading industrialized nations," to borrow the phrase from the Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Its member states are France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Russia. It is not an institution. It has no constitution or charter. It has no permanent secretariat or headquarters. The membership of the G-8 has evolved over time to include the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Canada and the president of the European Union. Although the summit is more likely to influence the policies its member states adopt, it is not held as part or the whole of the process involved in making policies they adopt. It is important to be clear that the G-8 summits are not a policy-making forum. They are a time for the leaders of these states to network and build relationships. They are a time to discuss complex international issues and crises, to allow for a more powerful collective response. The presidency of the G-8 and the location of the summit rotate annually among its member states in the following order: France, United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, and Russia. The heads of the G-8 member states, including the European Union will be attending this summit. Its member states assume presidency of the G-8 on January 1. The tradition of the G-8 summit is that the country holding the presidency hosts a series of ministerial level meetings before the summit begins. The traditional meeting of G-8 finance ministers is, in fact, the meeting of finance ministers of the G-8 minus Russia, as well as officials from the European Union. There is also a briefer "G-8+4" meeting for the finance ministers of the full G-8, as well as China, India, Brazil, and South Africa.
How Did the G-8 Evolve Over Time?
The 1973 global oil crisis and the subsequent global economic recession made the then global economy find itself in deep crisis. It was against this backdrop that the G-8 originally came into being as a group of six countries as part of the broader attempt on the part of the then major industrialized countries to make the then world economy free from this deep crisis. In 1975, French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing arranged for the heads of state of six major industrialized democracies to meet in Rambouillet, France with a view to developing the best possible way out of both the economic crisis that was then prevalent, and the potential subsequent economic crisis, and proposed regular meetings. It was the first summit of the group of major industrialized nations. They agreed to an annual meeting, and to organize it under a rotating presidency. The group of these democracies was dubbed the group of six (G-6), which included France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Canada joined it at the behest of U.S. president Gerald Ford in the second summit held from June 27-28 in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States. After that, the G-6 became the G-7. The G-7 became G-8 when Russia joined the G-7 in the 24th summit, which was the first G-8 official summit, held in Birmingham, the UK from May 15-17 in 1998. However, Russia was not allowed to attend the meeting for financial minister as it wasn't a major economic power. Russia still lacks some of the preconditions required for being part of the G-8, which other member states want Russia to have. Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia states that "on February 18th , 2005, United States Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain called for Russia to be suspended from the G-8 until democratic and political freedoms are ensured by Russian president Vladimir Putin." It also states that "because the original G-7 are effectively the leading industrial democracies and the Russian economy (as well as democracy) is still struggling, there are still some G-7 sessions on economic affairs in which the Russians do not participate."
The Gleneagles Summit: Capitalism as the Solution?
The forthcoming Gleneagles summit is expected to discuss issues such as challenges of Africa, and climate change. Other announced items on the agenda are counter-terrorism, non-proliferation, and reform in the Middle East. Tony Blair, head of the hosting state of the Gleneagles summit, states in his "welcome message" on December 9, 2004, "I really want to focus on the challenges of Africa and climate change during our presidency. There are other issues that G-8 countries are working on together, such as countering the spread of material used in nuclear and chemical weapons, fighting terrorism, supporting social and economic reform in the Middle East, and joint activity to make international travels safer. I want the G-8 to push on with this work too, as well as other foreign policy priorities including, in particular, helping find a peaceful and sustainable solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict." As Mick Brooks says, "Tony Blair wants to go down in the history books as something more than a squalid war criminal. He is anxious to present the summit as an opportunity to deal with the burning issues of world poverty, disease and climate change."
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Ajit Rai
I take a deep interest in development and underdevelopment as well as in politics, especially in its relation to economics. Currently, I am undertaking systematic research, and intend to theorize about Nepalese development and underdevelopment from a socio-philosophical approach.
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