Global Governance and Global Summits from the G8 to the G20: History, Opportunities and Challenges

Pivotal informal organizations, above all the G20, the G7 and the BRICS, have accumulated growing power in recent years. At a basic level, informal organizations differ from the formal institutions such as the UN and the IMF in a number of key ways: membership structure; foundational or legitimizational character and level of bureaucracy. What are the implications of this phenomenon for global governance? What does this shift from a hub club to a focal point network imply for innovation in modes of cooperation? The author has participated in numerous such summits, in his capacity as Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Commission, and shares his first-hand thoughts.