Is this the last G-8 summit meeting?

Writing in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash unleashes his considerable rhetorical power on the G-8: I have just looked at the agenda for the Deauville meeting and I am more convinced than ever that this is a monumental waste of time and money. The cash spent on the security measures alone, which involve more than 12,000 ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Writing in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash unleashes his considerable rhetorical power on the G-8:

Writing in the Guardian, Timothy Garton Ash unleashes his considerable rhetorical power on the G-8:

I have just looked at the agenda for the Deauville meeting and I am more convinced than ever that this is a monumental waste of time and money. The cash spent on the security measures alone, which involve more than 12,000 police, gendarmes and soldiers, could have made a significant contribution to the consolidation of Tunisian democracy. The whole circus, with its preparatory meetings of officials known as "sherpas", and what the French wonderfully call "sous-sherpas", will be repeated all over again in the runup to the November G20 meeting.

Not that the G20 is working well either. But it is a grouping much more appropriate to the economic, political and cultural realities of the 21st century. All the efforts of western or post-western leadership should be dedicated to making it work better. The best way to start would be to abolish the G8, and Obama will soon have an opportunity to do just that.

Next year, the US is supposed to be hosting the G8 while Mexico is to host the G20. Obama should privately agree with other G8 members, and with Mexico, to roll the G8 into a single G20 meeting. All efforts could then be concentrated on making the G20 more serious and effective than it is now.

Anyone who abolishes a useless committee or institution should be awarded a medal, and this would deserve a large one – a kind of global medal of honour. More broadly, this American president is qualified like none before him to move forward from the outdated cold war notion of "the leader of the free world" towards being the leader of a movement towards a free world.

There is a significant chance that this will be the last major G-8 summit meeting. But this forum won’t bury itself; the Obama adminstration will have to make a point of it. As I understand it, Washington was the only capital arguing against having a full-blown summit this year. In the months ahead, the administration will have to weigh whether ending the G-8 is worth the diplomatic headache. As Garton Ash points out, institutions–even informal ones–have a strong survival instinct.   

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.