The group of twenty as a multilateral framework of global governance: Case of sustainable development strategy

Abstract

It is an indisputable fact that the Group of Twenty (also known as the G-20 or G20) is the result of an immediate control response to the economic and financial crisis in Southeast Asia. Its relevance was confirmed over the outbreak of a new crisis in 2008, which was similar in content, but significantly more disastrous as regards its scope and consequences. However, the G20 remains also as an actor of global governance in circumstances that are not significantly marked by crisis events. This multilateral diplomatic process of 19 countries and the European Union continues the governing practices distinguished by at least two outstanding features: a) in its operations, the G20 provides visible effects of networking the various actors of international relations, and b) the scope of its operations, in terms of the considered agenda, goes beyond the needs for remediating the consequences of a crisis. The object of research was to identify contemporary processes of global governance, the effects of which are visible in the work of the G20's multilateral diplomatic process, and to examine the relations among them. This was done by transparent observation from two selected angles: a) the 'overlapping membership' of the participants in the G20 multilateral diplomatic process and their affiliation to certain structures of multilateral diplomacy, and b) the consideration of the opened issues that dominate the agenda of global governance of the multilateral world in different structures of multilateral diplomacy. Taking prominent place in this research is an analysis of understanding the concept of global growth and development on the G20 summits, from 2008 Washington to 2014 Brisbane, with an ultimate goal to provide an answer to the question of whether the G20 is a production point of the agenda for managing the global growth and development.