The G20 'Threat' Posted by David Shorr

Some DA readers (those paying really close attention) may know that as part of my day job at the Stanley Foundation, I'm a big advocate of the G20 as a key element of the international system. Come to find out, from Anders Aslund, that the G20 is actually a threat to the international system. The heart of Aslund's argument is that a self-styled and self-appointed concert of powers flouts key principles of multilateralism. In other words, who do these nations think they are, damned power-grabbing snobs!?!

So the real question is what's the essence of multilateralism? With his emphasis on universality, sovereign equality, and institutional permanence, I think Aslund has an over-narrow concept with misplaced priorities. Before I elaborate, though, I want to stipulate a few basic points of agreement. Formal insitutions with established decision-making procedures, and many of them with important ties to the premier global institution (the UN), are vital for the international system. Their permanence indeed enhances their legitimacy. The G20 and other G grouping processes do not have any institutional structure. Likewise the actions they take don't bind any other nation. That doesn't mean, however, that they have no proper place alongside formal international institutions.

Twenty-first Century multilateralism must be multi-multilateralism, with nations cooperating at many different levels, on different kinds of challenges, and through various channels and instruments. The key will be division of diplomatic labor and clarity regarding the comparative advantages of particular inter-governmental organizations. To point out the G20's lack of legal authority over countries that aren't in the club is obvious and trite. The real question is the ability of G20 nations to provide international leadership, which is desparately needed and certainly includes the challenge of consulting, enlisting, bringing along the others.

The standard by which multilateralism should be judged is whether it deals effectively with the problems the world faces, full stop. The problem with over-emphasizing proper procedure is that it a focus on the means loses sight of the ends. As a true friend of the UN and someone who bears the battle stripes of Kofi Annan's 2004-05 ambitious push for reform, I cannot vouch for universalism as the organizing principle for the international system. Those diplomatic bodies and mechanisms simply are not showing themselves to be locuses of problem-solving international cooperation and action. Nor do I want to disqualify influential nations from playing special roles based on having power. Whatever its flaws, the G20 does represent an attempt to convene a top-level policy forum more inclusive and reflective of dispersed 21st century power realities than its G8 predecessor.

There many important matters to be sorted out. Aslund makes a solid case for how the composition of the G20 skews its economic agenda; my own worry is the need for a similar forum to deal with the political and security agenda, which may well need a slightly different membership (note the presence of just one African nation). How the G20 will seek wider global consensus is another key question. Resisting innovation and informal channels of cooperation, however, literally won't solve anything.

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