A thick alphabet soup of global entities has been getting thicker

The proliferation of groups is an inevitable consequence of the world headed for multi-polarity as multilateralism weakens

- NARAYAN RAMACHANDRAN

As the world lurches towards greater multi-polarity, there is an alphabet soup of plurilateral organizations vying for power and influence. The Group of 20 (G20) nations just concluded its summit meeting under India’s presidency. India, which had received the baton from Indonesia, will turn it over to Brazil this November. The G20, made up of 19 nations and the European Union (EU), is itself an expansion of the earlier Group of 7 developed nations (G7). The G7 was born in 1973 as a crisis management and coordination group following the first oil shock and reverberations caused by the end of the Bretton Woods fixed currency exchange system. Similarly, the G20 was born in response to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1998. Both the G7 and G20 are unofficial inter-governmental groups. It is by convention today that heads of state, finance ministers, central bank governors and other officials attend their summit meetings.

Chinese President Xi Xinping and Russian President Vladmir Putin were conspicuous by their absence at this year’s G20 meeting in New Delhi. Xi has not missed a single G20 since he came to power in 2012. Whether Xi’s absence is a snub aimed at India or whether China is turning against the construct of the G20 itself, only time will tell. In contrast, his presence was obvious and large at the recently concluded BRICS summit in Johannesburg. Xi presided over that conclave where six new members, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, were admitted to the group.