University of Toronto G8 Information Centre

The G8 and Global Governance

With the end of the Cold War and the rapid onset of globalization in finance, production, communications and other areas of daily life, the institutions of the Group of Eight major market-oriented democracies are rapidly emerging as an effective centre of global governance in the contemporary world.

The members of the G8 — France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada, together with the European Union — command a majority of the world's capabilities in such fields as GNP, trade, finance and direct foreign investment.

At the annual G8 Summit of their leaders and through a host of ministerial forums, they have moved adroitly to address priority challenges in the fields of economics, security and the new generation of transnational or global issues.

Amidst the competition to secure their respective national interests, the members of the G8 have arrived at well-tailored and ambitious agreements to shape the new international order in such areas as security, trade policy, human rights, development assistance and macroeconomic co-ordination.

Despite widespread media skepticism since its founding in 1975 and continuing concerns about its legitimacy and representation, the G8 stands as the one system of international institutions providing effective political direction for our rapidly evolving world.

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This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Library and the G8 Research Group at the University of Toronto.
Please send comments to: g8@utoronto.ca
This page was last updated February 09, 2007.

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