Globalization and Summit Reform: An Experiment in International Governance

From the Afterword, by The Right Honourable Paul Martin

"[e]ven if only a partial transition to multi-polarity occurs, we face a significant institutional challenge, because for the moment there is no effective framework within which this broader distribution of power can be contained, managed and mobilized for the common good of humankind. This is the fundamental reason why the L-20 is needed we need a body that can form the consensus required to deal on a timely basis with issues of all kinds that have global repercussions."

This account of the 'L-20 project' describes and analyses a 3-year mobilization designed as an alternative to the political deadlocks preventing progress on critical global issues. The L-20 would include leaders from the existing G-countries, augmented by key regional powers such as China, Brazil, India, South Africa and Egypt. The book traces the origins and findings of the project, which generated a broad array of cutting-edge research and over twenty substantive, action-oriented workshops involving hundreds of experts and practitioners around the world. The workshop series examined in detail the operational possibilities for a Leaders Group addressing a range of issues, including infectious disease control, climate change/global warming, energy security, nuclear proliferation, management of international financial crises, and the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation, to name just a few. In the context of a rapidly globalizing world, the book addresses the classical problems of international governance How do we prevent war? How do we feed the hungry? How do we house the homeless? How do we cure the sick and safeguard the healthy? Featuring a Foreword by Dr. Gordon Smith, an Afterword by the Right Honourable Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada, and a glossary of terms, Globalization and Summit Reform provides a unique, insiders perspective on the process of international governance and its future prospects.