Reimagining the G7: Researchers Crunch Data To Make Reform Recommendations For The Global Forum

HONOLULU (Sept. 18, 2024) -- A lot has changed in the world since the G7 first began in 1973 as an informal gathering in the White House Library among the finance ministers of the US, Britain, France, and Germany. Today, the Group of Seven political and economic forum—made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—is viewed as a crucial institution for global governance. But for the forum to stay relevant and effective, according to eminent international relations scholar Victor Cha, a major issue needs to be addressed: the fact that its members represent a diminishing representation of global GDP and population.

In 1992, G7 members represented almost 70 percent of the global economy, but today that figure has shriveled to 43 percent, according to Cha, who is senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a distinguished professor of government at Georgetown University. In addition, G7 members today represent less than 10 percent of the global population.

“The G7 of today is not really equipped to do the job that it wants to do,” Cha said in a recent presentation at the East-West Center in Honolulu. “It is certainly playing a very important role, but it needs to be reimagined.”

‘Backed by the data’
Cha, a former director of Asian affairs at the National Security Council who currently serves on the federal Defense Policy Board, shared an overview of findings from a recent CSIS project he led to identify data-based recommendations for reforming the G7. “There are a million think tanks in DC that can give you two million policy recommendations,” Cha said. “But what we really tried to do was bring policy recommendations that were backed by the data.”

First, Cha and his team used text analysis of statements made by G7 leaders to compile a list of the most frequently discussed topics. These included the future of the Indo-Pacific region; economic resilience and economic security; food security; digital competitiveness; climate change; war in Ukraine; global economy, finance and sustainable development; disarmament and nonproliferation; and labor.

Next, the team assembled a dataset of 300 publicly available metrics to compile rankings of how well different countries have performed in handling each of those priority areas. What they discovered was that two non-G7 members, Australia and South Korea, consistently were listed in the top 10 rankings on the priority issues and were performing highly overall, “if not better than some G7 members,” Cha said.

Adding perspectives 
This research led to the project’s first recommendation: the G7 should consider expanding its membership to increase the body’s capabilities and effectiveness. In addition, including countries like Australia and South Korea would offer an increased Indo-Pacific perspective. Down the road, Spain and the Netherlands might be future candidates to add to the table as well, Cha said.

The international order is already under significant stress, he said, due to ongoing wars, economic coercion, and what he described as the inefficacy of traditional institutions. Established institutions such as the UN Security Council, G20, and the World Trade Organization are struggling to effectively address global challenges, he said, partly due to their size and conflicting interests among members. That underscores the need to seriously consider making these updates to the G7, he argued.

Agenda reforms
Other reforms to consider, according to Cha, include creating “formal consultation mechanisms” with other global constituencies such as the African Union, ASEAN, China, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, and the G20, “at a minimum.” He also suggested revising the G7’s agenda-setting process to ensure continuity and address long-term global challenges more effectively. Currently, he said, each year’s host country gets to set the agenda for the year, and the conversations can be dominated by topics that don’t tie in directly to the group’s main goals.

In the name of maintaining global economic security, he said, such a makeover is crucial. “We do not have time to create new institutions,” Cha concluded, “so we need to bend existing ones to meet the challenge.”

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