Summits! Summits!! SUMMITS!!! Posted by David Shorr

On Thursday I head to Toronto to cover this week's G-8/20 world leader jamboree. But before I do, conventional wisdom seems to demand that I justify why even bother. Is it just me, or is anyone else struck by the pervasive cynicism that surrounds political processes of all kinds? (I suppose I'm getting jaded about jadedness.) Within the foreign policy blogging community, we can look to Dan Drezner for a world(summit)-weary scene-setter. The conceit -- which Dan traces back to an Onion-style satirical Alan Beattie column -- is that everything said at summits is self-serving and meaningless. Multilateral gatherings are about expressing concern and good intentions, and not actually doing anything to address the given source of concern.

Look, it's one thing to scrutinize these meetings to see what policy deliverables they produce, but it's another to view them as inherently suspect. With the G-20, the skeptics have additional problem: the first three G-20 summits arguably helped avert a great depression by replenishing the IMF and spurring a multi-national round of fiscal stimulus. To be sure, the G groupings could raise their game in terms of pushing issues along and tackling the world's problems. But it's hard to argue that the world would be better without them.

So what is the fair way to judge diplomatic processes like these? First of all, I think the key is to recognize that, as we demand action from world leaders, action takes different forms. The problems on the global agenda are being addressed through a variety of channels, and leaders can propel these forward in different ways. Here's a partial catalogue of political will "outputs" that come from top-level policy makers in the Gs:

• Resource mobilization. Examples are the infusion of capital into the IMF, funds to dismantle and secure Russian WMD, and the new matermal and child health initiative being launched at the upcoming summit.
• Sponsorship of focused and ongoing inter-governmental cooperation at a technical or operational level, such as the Global Initiative to Counter Nuclear Terrorism or the Counter-Terrorism Action Group.
• Affirmation of broad commitments or priorities. The fiscal stimulus and trade protection stanstill commitments fall in this category. In fact, Arvind Subramanian argues that the G-20 -- notwithstanding that its macroeconomic rebalancing agenda is patently hortatory -- deserves credit for spurring China to announce its currency revaluation plans (hat tip to Greg Scoblete).
• Mandating that problems be worked out elsewhere, for instance IFI governance reform.
• Serving as a consensus incubator. Since the Gs are an informal form of multilateralism -- in contrast with traditional treaty-based bodies -- they are not proper negotiating forums. That said, they could serve an invaluable role in setting some basic terms or frameworks, say, for climate change financing, elimination of fuel subsidies, or a fissile material cut-off treaty.

So why don't we home in on how leaders are dealing with the items on their agenda -- urge them toward their stated purpose instead of smugly declaring them phonies?

Comments

[Tenerife holidays]

Well said.Don't you think that the G-20 meetings are a farce, nothing is accomplished.One of my friends was saying that it is just another ploy for governments to spend taxpayers money to send their leaders on holiday.

[kodes]

Türkiyenin ilk Hiphop Sitesi için tıkla -> Hiphop <-
Gekko G Fan Sitesi için tıkla -> Gekko G <-
Mask Animasyon sitesi için tıkla -> Mask animasyon <-

[ipad case]

me and my friends thought about the same thing too, i agreed.

[sesli sohbet]

That said, they could serve an invaluable role in setting some basic terms or frameworks, say, for climate change financing, elimination of fuel subsidies, or a fissile material cut-off treaty.
seslichat seslisohbet seslichat seslisohbet

[christian louboutin]

For my part,Dita von teese and Scarlett and Johansson are the suitable ones.Because they share the common characters:sexy and charming,and this suits the designing style of well."To those dancers,shoes are the most important.They must be comfortable,beautiful,sexy,and attract the people.My thinking was simple,just let these girls wore the shoes I made.They will be more comfortable,more beautiful than those on their feet.

[yuchen]

They turned to the crowd who were fleeing scattered, and then his wife came to the north with the crowd, her husband went to the south, so the two were separated from the turbulence of links of london war for nearly ten years. It was a chance, his wife came to the South in market saw a very familiar links of the links of london silver bracelet, the owner really see it - is his long-lost husband, the couple links of london bracelet hugged each other and cry, links of london silver bracelet so that they can find the most links of london sweetie bracelet pro-people is indeed to bring luck to the people's jewelry,

[Air Jordan Shoes]

Air Jordan Fusion 20-White Black Varsity Red
Air Jordan Fusion 20-Black White Metallic Gold
Air Jordan Fusion 20-Black Stealth Varsity Red
Air Jordan Fusion 3 Black Fire Red-Cement Grey-White
Air Jordan Fusion 3 White Fire Red-Cement-Black

[le123]

When we separate the time does not really have a lot of willing, but there are a lot of frustration in life, I lost him, but I have him send me the links of london necelace he personally
links of london gave me to wear this jewelry is very much Weekend and a good friend to the Great Wall, has links london wanted to see, no chance to go, just a friend in Beijing. In fact, when the decision to climb the links of london sweetie bracelet Great Wall, a little less worried about their climb to the top, but links of london sweetie looked at the way this links of london necelace ,the stop is really a rest, but I insisted to the end, climb the top. links of london necelace gives me strength

[spyder]

For a pair of sleek gloves that would look great with , These gloves are perfect for those who live in metropolitan areas where the spyder in the winter because these gloves are lined with extra warm and spyder jacket for that added layer of warmth and spyder.The slim lines of spyder jackets are convenient enough to slip into spyder ski wear when not needed.For a great pair of gloves that will keep up with you on the slopes even in the Paul smith outlet, The Thermacore insulation on these gloves will keep your fingers warm even when the freezing wind and Paul smith on you. The hidden heater and vent pocket stashes extra warmth on the cold days and dumps excess heat in the spring.

[serdar ortac dinle]

Merhaba serdar ortaç dinle çok iyidir bunun dışında volkan konak dinle de yine öyle birde ne vardı heh mustafa ceceli dinle ve bitirirken ismail yk şarkıları kesin dinleyin.ve unutmadan küçük sırlar son bölüm izle dizisi süper.metro turizm bilet fiyatları ve 10.sınıf coğrafya kitabı cevapları iyidir.