Brookings Press Blog

G8 Meets Criticism

Some Say 2007 Summit Illustrates Need for Global Governance Reform

The 2007 G8 summit convened June 6-8 in Germany. The member states—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—discussed many serious global issues, particularly climate change and aid to Africa. An article on the official website for the 2007 summit described the event as successful, having resulted in agreements among the G8 leaders regarding cooperation with major emerging economies, goals for reducing greenhouse gases, aid to Africa, and liberalization of global trade.

Not everyone viewed the accomplishments of this year’s summit in such a positive light, however. Oxfam criticized the G8 as “having failed to do enough to shore up their wavering credibility or guarantee that they will keep their promises to Africa.” A June 3 article in the Financial Times anticipated problems at the summit due to the G8’s structure, predicting that “unless [the G8 leaders] in some way engage more fully with non-members…they will lose legitimacy as a grouping and, more importantly, fail to resolve challenges that top their agenda.”

The Times’ concerns reflect those presented in Global Governance Reform: Breaking the Stalemate, in which Brookings analysts Colin Bradford and Johannes Linn claim that the current structure of the G8 is obsolete. They argue that without reconstituting the G8 summit into a larger, more representative group of leaders, with a new mandate to provide strategic guidance to the system of international institutions, the world will fall further behind in addressing global challenges.

- Learn more about Global Governance Reform.

Candid Candidates

Presidential Contenders Talk about Religion at the Sojourners Presidential Forum

On June 4, Sojourners hosted three leading contenders for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination—John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton—for the first-ever candidates’ forum on faith and values. In this forum, which illustrated the potential role that religion could play in the 2008 race, the candidates spoke with remarkable frankness as a panel of religious leaders questioned their personal experiences with religion and the effect of faith on their political views.

The discussion touched on a number of religious themes. When asked about the greatest sin he has committed, Edwards replied, “If I have had a day in my 54 years where I haven't sinned multiple times, I would be amazed.” Senator Obama spoke of people’s “mutual responsibilities” that “have to express themselves, not just through our churches, and our synagogues, and our mosques, and our temples, not only in our own families, but they have to express themselves through our government.” Senator Clinton responded to questions about infidelity in her marriage by saying, “I had a grounding in faith that gave me the courage and the strength to do what I thought was right, regardless of what the world thought.”

After the 2004 presidential election, many analysts argued that the election had been decided along religious lines, pointing to exit polls, strong turnout among evangelicals, and controversy over gay marriage. In A Matter of Faith, editor David E. Campbell and additional contributors assess the role religion played in the 2004 election and explore its significance for future contests. While we have yet to see the extent of religion’s impact on the 2008 election, this book suggests that religion has the potential to wield a powerful influence. Surely yesterday’s forum was just the beginning.

- Read the transcript of the Sojourners Presidential Forum.

- Learn more about A Matter of Faith.