Introduction

The Group of Eight (G8) refers to the group of eight highly

industrialized nations—France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom,

Japan, the United States, Canada, and Russia—that hold an annual

meeting to foster consensus on global issues like economic growth and

crisis management, global security, energy, and terrorism. The forum

enables presidents and prime ministers, as well as their finance and

foreign ministers, to candidly discuss pressing international issues. Its

small and static membership, however, excludes emerging powers from

important talks concerning the global economy and international

security, and as an informal grouping, states have little leverage over

other members with which to secure compliance on agreements beyond

imposing reputational costs.

Membership

When the group was formed in 1975, it was known as the G6,

comprisingFrance, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom,

and the United States. The G6 was intended to provide major industrial

powers of the noncommunist world a venue in which to address

economic concerns, which at the time included inflation and the

recession sparked by the oil crisis of the 1970s. Cold War politics

invariably entered the group’s agenda.

Currently, the G8 comprises its six charter members, in addition to

Canada, which joined in 1976, and Russia, which became a fully

participating member by 1998. The EU is a "nonenumerated" ninth

member; represented by the presidents of the European Council and

European Commission, the EU participates as an equal. The aggregate

GDP of G8 states makes up some 50 percent of the global economy.

While there are no formal criteria for membership, member states are

expected to be democracies and have highly developed economies. The

G8, unlike the United Nations, is not a formal institution, and there is no

charter or secretariat. The presidency, a position responsible for planning

ministerial meetings and the annual summit, rotates among the member

states.

Policy proposals are hammered out at ministerial meetings that precede

the annual summit. Finance ministers and central bank governors

continue to meet as the G7 to discuss matters of international economics;

this group comprises all the G8 states except Russia. All G8 states,

however, participate in the foreign ministers’ meetings.