Time for the D-10 to Replace the G-8?
The spectacle of elected Western leaders standing on equal footing with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit is too much for some observers. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, David Gordon and Ash Jain proposed a solution to the phenomenon of multilateralism that treats democratic and non-democratic states as equals: We suggest building upon an ...
The spectacle of elected Western leaders standing on equal footing with Russia's Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit is too much for some observers. In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, David Gordon and Ash Jain proposed a solution to the phenomenon of multilateralism that treats democratic and non-democratic states as equals:
The spectacle of elected Western leaders standing on equal footing with Russia’s Vladimir Putin at the G8 summit is too much for some observers. In yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, David Gordon and Ash Jain proposed a solution to the phenomenon of multilateralism that treats democratic and non-democratic states as equals:
We suggest building upon an initiative launched by the U.S. State Department in 2008. That year, policy-planning directors from several democracies gathered in Toronto to launch a new dialogue on global challenges. Those invited to participate were strategically like-minded—committed to addressing certain threats and maintaining democratic values—with the requisite economic, military and diplomatic resources to act on a global scale. The resulting group included America’s closest allies—the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Australia and South Korea.
Subsequent meetings in Washington and Seoul during Mr. Obama’s first term were productive, but higher-level engagement is now required. The U.S. should convene the foreign ministers from these nine states to endorse and reinforce this construct. With the addition of the European Union, the resulting "Democracies 10" (or D-10) would account for more than 60% of global GDP and more than three-fourths of the world’s military expenditures…
The U.S. and its D-10 partners will not agree on every issue. And addressing many issues will still require working with Russia, China and other world powers. But by providing a powerful and integrated platform for strategic collaboration, the D-10 would allow the U.S. and its like-minded allies to advance common interests and act effectively on the most critical challenges facing the West today.
Gordon and Jain recognize that such a development will irritate many key states–including key emerging powers–and they suggest that the D10 keep a relatively low profile (although it’s not clear whether that is compatible with meetings at the level of foreign minister). For a more in-depth elaboration of the idea, see here and here.
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
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