Group of Seven Conferences

Group of Seven Conferences. Beginning in November 1975 at Rambouillet, France, the annual Group of Seven (G7)—later Group of Eight (G8)—conferences brought together senior officials from the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Great Britain, and Canada to coordinate policies. The gatherings began after the collapse of the post–World War II Bretton Woods monetary system, and the delinking of the U.S. dollar from gold, as U.S. policy‐makers sought new ways to coordinate international economic policies with their counterparts elsewhere. Participants also focused on arms control and, later, on such global issues as the environment, illicit drugs, money laundering, and the Internet. Each nation's delegation typically included the head of state or government, the foreign minister, the finance minister, and his or her leading economic advisors. Among the most important conferences was that of September 1985, which set up the managed floating of exchange rates. In addition to the regular summits, special meetings in 1985 and 1996 inaugurated Russian participation.

While the G7/G8 system evolved significantly over its first twenty‐five years, it nevertheless lagged behind global economic and political changes. For example, the conferences neglected globalization's effects on national culture and law. Such important nations as China, India, Mexico, and Brazil remained outside, and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations, and the World Bank were not regular participants. Nevertheless, the G7/G8 system did illustrate the ability of the United States and other nations to create informal political structures to coordinate international policies.
See also Bretton Woods Conference; Economic Development; Foreign Relations: The Economic Dimension; Foreign Trade, U.S.; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; Global Economy, America and the; Monetary Policy, Federal; Multinational Enterprises; Post–Cold War Era.

Bibliography

C. Fred Bergsten and and C. Randall Henning , Global Economic Leadership and the Group of Seven, 1996.
Peter I. Hajnal , The G7/G8 System, 1999.

Susan Ariel Aaronson