The G7/G8 System: Evolution, Role and Documentation

The G7/G8, launched in 1975, has become one of the major international institutions, bringing together seven major industrial democracies (France, USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada), and more recently Russia. Unlike most structured international organizations that are based on intergovernmental agreements and have permanent secretariats, the G8 has remained relatively informal and unencumbered by bureaucracy. This arrangement has enabled the leaders of these countries to become well-acquainted with each other and to understand one another’s domestic political and economic constraints. The G7/G8 has achieved respectable results on many economic, political and other global issues, and this book discusses the origins, characteristics, role and agenda of the G7/G8 system. The book also reviews the organization’s evolution, surveys the major debates and questions about the G7/G8 in the scholarly literature and provides a detailed study of the complex and elusive documentation of and about this institution. The book also describes and evaluates the permanent, authoritative G8 Information Centre website and presents a comprehensive bibliography of its concerns.