Why we need a strong G20
The G20 must concentrate to a much greater extent than it has done so far on people’s social needs, believes Dennis J. Snower, president of the Institute for the World Economy and co-chair of Think20.
The G20 provided impressive proof of its importance for the world community during the 2008 financial crisis. This group of the 20 leading industrialised and emerging economies were able to mitigate or prevent the negative consequences of the crisis by implementing a coordinated raft of monetary and fiscal policy measures. This was an excellent example of the G20’s core competence, namely its focus on global growth and international financial stability.
This focus has become too narrow for the world of today, however. Many people perceive worldwide trade and the global financial markets to be unfair and unstable rather than sustainable. The G20 needs to broaden its self-image if it is to regain greater support from society and reconsolidate its legitimation.
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The pressing problems of our time are no longer purely economic in nature. Admittedly, the G20 has now widened its concept of growth and is striving for “sustainable and inclusive growth” that will include all sections of the population. In addition, there are ministerial meetings and working groups on issues such as digitisation, agriculture and development cooperation – yet the focus remains almost exclusively on questions of an economic nature.
The G20 must concentrate to a much greater extent than it has done so far on the social problems that people face, however. This would allow the group to make a valuable contribution to the world community, and play to its strength as a decentral and international dialogue forum that brings together large parts of the population and world trade. After all, the roots of the social problems that have also helped the New Right to greater popularity in the United States of America, Europe and Turkey are to be found at the global level.
An increasingly large section of the population does not benefit from globalisation and is no longer able to take control of – let alone improve – their own economic and social success. The profits derived from worldwide trade must be distributed more fairly. Many jobs in the low-wage sector have already been lost to robots, and digitisation will also radically change the labour market when it comes to more complex professions. Enabling people to face up to the competition posed by artificial intelligence will play a central role in terms of their future earning potential. The social consequences of unchecked climate change would be devastating and would threaten economic and political stability around the world.
The G20 must therefore make an unconditional commitment to climate protection. And it must respond not only to people’s material needs, but also to their social needs. People have to be empowered to determine their own destinies and actively shape their own lives. This can be achieved by providing better access to education and new forms of political codetermination.
With this objective, the G20 will remain the global community’s most important forum for dialogue and can pave the way towards a peaceful and auspicious future.
The US economist Dennis J. Snower is the president of the Institute for the World Economy in Kiel and co-chair of Think20 (T20). This officially mandated group of think tanks contributes proposals to the G20 process. The T20 “Global Solutions” summit will take place in Berlin from 29 to 30 May.
