(This is an archived extract from the book Patterns of Power: Edition 2)
In addition to the UN, there are other political groupings with global reach – notably the G20, which is a body formed of politicians from the countries with the 20 largest economies.[1] It takes economic decisions but it isn’t politically representative of the world as a whole (3.4.4). Its 20 members collectively represent "around 90% of global GDP" but there is no mechanism for any other country to have access to its decision-making processes.
The G8 is similar in nature to the G20 but with fewer countries.[2] It excludes the ‘developing economies’ of China, India and Brazil but nonetheless accounts for about half of global GDP.
© PatternsofPower.org, 2014
[1] The G20 website was at https://www.g20.org/ in May 2014.
[2] The G8 countries are France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada; its presidency rotates in that sequence. In May 2014 its website, at http://www.g8.co.uk/, reported its role as follows:
“The G8 discusses and creates global policies. However, adherence to these policies is not obligatory, and other countries can decide whether or not to obey.”