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Breaking deadlocks in global governance: how to make the L-20 work.

Article Excerpt
The rapid economic, social, and ecological changes around the world over the past half-century have generated tremendous new challenges that beg for a different global governance system: one that can, in the words of Paul Martin, "form the consensus required to deal on a timely basis with issues of all kinds that have global repercussions" (p. 302). Martin makes a compelling case for a new mechanism, the L-20. This body would be "a summit gathering of the leaders of twenty important states from all major world regions" (p. 301). According to Martin, the fundamental criteria for L-20 membership are states that have global economic weight, domestic stability, and regional leadership. In addition, he specifies that membership of the L-20 should be the same for all issues, avoiding a so-called "variable geometry" (p. 303). Few would question the need for an occasional meeting of this sort. However, constituting this mechanism of global governance and making it work effectively present some complex and intriguing problems.

With regard to difficulties in convening the L-20, one must first ask what the L-20 can achieve that cannot be obtained through other mechanisms. If the L-20 is envisioned as an important decisionmaking mechanism, one could immediately challenge its legitimacy. While the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, and other global governance institutions have not been very effective in addressing some global deadlocks, they are legitimate venues where important global decisions are taken through due processes. As Martin notes, the L-20 should make "the framework for international decisionmaking more effective, while...

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