The G20 And International Relations Theory

The future of the G20 is uncertain despite being developed to address the 2008 global financial crisis. This book considers the significance of the G20 by engaging various accounts of International Relations theory to examine the political drivers of this form of global governance. International Relations theory represents an array of perspectives that analyse the factors that drive the G20, how the G20 influences world politics and in what ways the G20 could or should be reformed in the future.

Can the power of the G20 be legitimate? This book examines the politics surrounding the G20’s efforts to act effectively and legitimately and the problems and challenges involved in this activity. Developing a critical constructivist conceptualisation of the G20, the book considers holistically and practically the ways that the G20 develops various forms of power and influence and acts as an apex form of global governance that seeks to be an overall coordinating forum to address global problems. Assessing how debates about the legitimacy of the G20 shaped its operation, Slaughter argues that the G20’s power can be legitimate despite a range of considerable challenges and limits. The book also explores what measures the G20 could take to be more legitimate in the future. Offering a direct and accessible consideration of the politics of legitimacy with respect to the G20, this book will be of interest to those attempting to understand and analyse the G20 as well as to scholars of IR theory, global political economy, global policy, diplomacy and globalisation.

This study mobilizes classic and contemporary international relations theory to explain the causes of observed G20 governance, and on this basis offers some concluding predictions about its future course. In particular it offers an account grounded in the competitive dynamics among international institutions in a crowded world, rather than one based merely on the older model of forum-shopping among states in an anarchic system.

Ten essays for readers with a general knowledge of and interest in international relations. Also suitable for classroom use. The diversity of perspectives includes the classical tradition at the end of the Cold War, work outside the mainstream, feminist theory, postmodernism, formal modeling, descriptive analysis, domestic structure, naturalist and geopolitical approaches, and structuralist theory. Paper edition (unseen), $25.00. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In this volume, Matthew Davies and Michael Niemann bring international relations theory back into the everyday experiences of ordinary people, rather than the statecraft of the elite, and consider the impact of global processes. They develop the work of Lefebvre to problematize the inequalities in contemporary IR theory and consider the spaces of work, leisure and the family. International Relations & Everyday Life will contribute to the ongoing debates in international relations theory and will provide an introduction to IR for advanced students seeking to understand contemporary problems in the field.

Laying the foundations of a theory of ‘international social closure’ this book examines how actors compete for a seat at the table in the management of international society and how that competition stratifies the international domain. In a broad historical survey from the ‘Family of Civilised Nations’, through the Great Powers’ club, to the G7 and G20 today, Naylor investigates the politics of membership in the exclusive clubs that manage international society and ensure its survival, providing us with a new way to think about how status competition has changed over time and what this means for international politics today. With its sociologically grounded theory, this book advances English School scholarship and transforms the study of contemporary summitry, providing a ground-breaking approach rooted in archival research, elite interviews, and ethnographic participant observation. This book is of interest to international relations scholars interested in the ‘expansion’ and globalisation of international society, the history of international summits, and transformations in international order, as well as to those examining concepts including stratification, hierarchy, and networked governance. With its emphasis on non-state actors in global governance, scholars and practitioners alike working on/for civil society will also find this research of great value.