The Big Seven and its role. Big Seven. Topics and venues of the G7 meetings

06.02.2024 Treatment

State University of Management

Economy of the G7

Completed:

Information Management III-1

Moscow - 2002

"BIG SEVEN" - the most economically developed countries: USA, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada. In the early 1990s. they accounted for over 50% of world GNP and industrial production, over 25% of agricultural products. Since 1975, at regular meetings at the top, coordinated interstate economic, financial, and monetary policies have been developed. Based on a general analysis of the world economy, the G7 countries determine ways to influence the pace and proportions of its development.

The G7 includes economically developed countries, and Russia joined these countries in the mid-90s.

The modern world economy appears heterogeneous. The role of individual national economies in it differs significantly. The UN statistics given in the table below clearly demonstrate that among the leaders of the world economy are the countries of North America (USA and Canada), countries of Western Europe (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France) and Japan. But Russia's economy is in decline, although it is part of the G8 (see Russia section)

Over the past decades, the United States of America has remained the leader in the world economy.

At the present stage, the leadership of the United States in the world economy is ensured mainly by its superiority in other countries in terms of the scale and wealth of the market, the degree of development of market structures, the level of scientific and technical potential, a powerful and extensive system of world economic relations with other countries through trade, investment and banking capital.

The unusually high capacity of the domestic market provides the United States with a unique place in the world economy. Having the highest GNP in the world means the US spends more than any other country on current consumption and investment. At the same time, the factor characterizing consumer demand in the United States is the general high level of income relative to other countries and a large layer of the middle class focused on high standards of consumption. In the United States, an average of 1.5 million new homes are built annually, more than 10 million new passenger cars and many other durable goods are sold.

Modern US industry consumes about one third of all raw materials produced in the world. Sarana has the largest market for machinery and equipment in the world. It accounts for over 40% of mechanical engineering products sold in developed countries. Having the most developed mechanical engineering, the United States has simultaneously become the largest importer of mechanical products. The United States now receives over one quarter of the world's exports of machinery and equipment, making purchases for almost all types of equipment.

By the beginning of the 90s. In the United States, a stable progressive economic structure has developed, in which the predominant share belongs to the production of services. In GDP they account for over 60%, for material production - 37% and approximately 2.5% - for agricultural products. The role of the service sector in employment is even more significant: in the first half of the 90s, more than 73% of the self-employed population was employed here.

At the present stage, the United States has the world's largest scientific and technical potential, which is now a decisive factor in the dynamic development of the economy and competitiveness in the world economy. Annual R&D expenditures in the US exceed those of the UK, Germany, France and Japan combined (in 1992, total US R&D expenditures exceeded US$160 billion). Still more than half of government R&D spending goes to military-related projects, putting the United States in a much worse position than competitors such as Japan and the EU, which spend the majority of their funds on civilian projects. But the United States is still significantly ahead of European countries and Japan in terms of the overall potential and scope of R&D, which allows them to conduct scientific work on a broad front and achieve the rapid transformation of the results of fundamental research into applied developments and technical innovations.

US corporations firmly hold the lead in the world in such areas of scientific and technical progress as the production of aircraft and spacecraft, high-power computers and their software, the production of semiconductors and the latest high-power integrated circuits, the production of laser technology, communications equipment, and biotechnology. The United States accounts for over 50% of major innovations generated in developed countries.

Today the United States is the largest producer of high-tech products, or, as they are commonly called, science-intensive products: their share in the world production of these products was in the early 90s. 36%, in Japan - 29%, Germany - 9.4%, Great Britain, Italy, France, Russia - about 20%.

The United States also holds a strong position in processing accumulated amounts of knowledge and providing information services. This factor plays a very significant role, since fast and high-quality information support increasingly determines the efficiency of the entire production apparatus. Currently, 75% of the data banks available in developed countries are concentrated in the United States. Since Japan, like Western Europe, does not have an equivalent system of data banks, for a long time their scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs will continue to draw knowledge mainly from American sources. This increases their dependence on the United States and affects the commercial and production strategy of the information consumer.

It is extremely important that the basis of the scientific and technological potential of the United States is a cadre of highly qualified scientists and engineers engaged in scientific research and development. So, in the early 90s. the total number of scientific workers in the United States exceeded 3 million people. The United States leads in the share of scientists and engineers in the workforce. The entire workforce in the United States is characterized by a high educational level. In the early 90s. 38.7% of Americans aged 25 years and older had completed high school education, 21.1% had completed college education, and 17.3% had completed college education. Only 11.6% of American adults have less than a high school education, which is 8 years or less of schooling. The country's powerful scientific and technological potential and the overall high level of education and professional training of Americans serve as a factor of strength for American corporations in their competition with rivals in the domestic and world markets.

The continued leadership of the United States in modern world economic relations is a natural result of their previous development and represents the next step in the process of integration of the United States into the world economy. The United States plays a special role in the formation of the global economic complex, especially in the second half of the 20th century. The relations of leadership and partnership in the field of global trade, investment and finance that are developing between the United States, Western Europe, Japan and the newly industrialized countries that are catching up with them reveal a certain pattern. At first there was absolute dominance of the United States, but as the economies of other participants strengthened, these relations turned into a competitive partnership in which the United States was forced to partially cede its share of influence to its rivals, while moving the leadership function to a higher level.

The United States consistently dominated world trade, exports of loan capital, and direct and portfolio foreign investment. Nowadays, this predominance is realized mainly in the scale of economic potential and the dynamism of its development, scientific and technological progress, foreign investments and influence on the global financial market.

At the present stage, the United States is the world's largest investor and at the same time the main target for foreign investment. The most significant investments in the United States were made by Great Britain ($12 billion). In total, the United States received over $560 billion in direct investment from abroad. American firms still remain the world's largest investors; the total amount of their direct capital investments abroad exceeds all global investments and amounted to approximately $706 billion. . USA.

In addition, American corporations have entered into a capital investment boom in recent years due to the strengthening of the dollar. Corporate profits as a percentage of national income are much higher than they were in the 1980s. Unit labor costs did not rise in 1995 compared with the 4.1% average annual growth rate in the 1980s, a clear sign of improved economic efficiency.

Such successes are due to the powerful growth in productivity, which in the 90s. in the non-farm sector increased by 2.2% annually, which is double the rate of the previous two decades. If the current rate of 2% is maintained, national productivity will increase by almost 10% over the next decade.

In the post-war period, the internationalization of economic life occurred gradually. At the same time, in the world economy there was a transition of the US economy from superiority over weak partners to competitive partnership and increasing interdependence of strong partners, among which the US retains a leading position.

Another richest country on the North American continent, with more than a century-old history, is Canada.

But real incomes of the Canadian population fell by 2% in L991. A slight expansion of employment and insignificant increases in wages in the public and private sectors of the economy slowed down the growth of labor incomes, which account for 3/5 of the total income of the population. Investment income fell three times in a row, first due to cuts in dividend payments and, in 1993, mainly due to falling interest rates. As a result, real consumer spending in 1993 increased by only 1.6% compared to 1.3% in 1992.

Statistics show that the reduction in production scale in the early 90s. was not significant, but it occurred in the context of the most serious structural restructuring in the last three decades, affecting the industry of the two provinces with the most developed industrial potential - Ontario and Quebec.

Economic growth and the revival of the Canadian economy have been occurring since 1992, when the GDP growth rate was 0.6%; in 1993 they increased to 2.2%. In 1994, in terms of economic growth rates (4.2%), the maple leaf country became the leader in the G7 for the first time since 1988 and retained this position in 1995, increasing real GDP in 1995. by 3.8%.

There was also a sharp jump in the growth of private investment - from 0.7% in 1993 to 9% in 1994 and 8.0% in the first quarter of 1995. Consumer spending began to grow approximately twice as fast - by 3% compared to from 1.6% in 1993

Manufacturing growth in Canada is driven by rising household and corporate incomes. If during the recession of 1990-1991. real incomes of the population (after taxes, taking into account rising prices) were declining, then in 1994 they increased by 2.9%, and in 1995 - by 4.0%. At the same time, Canadian corporate profits increased by 35% in 1994 and by 27% in 1995. This growth is supported by expanding domestic demand, an increasing flow of exports and rising commodity prices on the world market. We are talking about high prices for energy, chemical raw materials, metals, paper, and wood.

An important role in the growth of corporate incomes is played by structural restructuring in Canadian industry, measures to reduce costs and technical re-equipment, which led to an increase in labor productivity, which in manufacturing industries exceeds 5%.

The new federal government, trying to solve the most pressing problems of the internal economic situation, proposed a reform plan in February 1995, indicating a radical revision of the role of the state in the socio-economic life of the country. Thus, it is provided:

reducing spending by federal ministries by 19% over the next three years, reducing subsidies to entrepreneurs by 50%;

support for small businesses (but the forms of assistance to small businesses will be less preferential and more consistent with the regime of brutal budget austerity);

commercialization of the activities of government institutions and privatization.

This means that the functions of government agencies and corporations will be transferred to a commercial basis or transferred to private hands in all cases where this seems practical and effective. The program also includes the possibility of full or partial privatization of state-owned enterprises.

Canada, whose exports and imports account for 2/3 of its GNP, is very significantly dependent on the situation on the world market. Over the past three years, its exports have grown by 31.6%, and imports by 31.3%. Such positive changes are due to the low exchange rate of the Canadian dollar relative to the American dollar, the structural restructuring of the economy and the associated increasing competitiveness of Canadian products, as well as economic revival in the USA, the market of which, in fact, is oriented to the products of the country of maple leaves.

Today, Canada seriously needs to export widely to the United States to achieve even modest economic growth. Any sudden "cooling" in the economy south of the Canadian border causes a strong flow of "cold air" northward. Currently, Canada is tightly tied to the United States, with weak consumer growth and similar personal income growth. The only thing that will move its economy forward is , is an expansion of exports, and most of it comes from the United States.

Canada's generally slow economic growth masks serious problems facing Canadians. Among them: high unemployment (about 9.5%), record consumer debt, low savings rates and dire consequences caused by tens of billions of dollars in cuts to the federal and provincial governments.

As you know, many European countries have stabilized their currencies by pegging them to the German mark. In Canada, the freely floating exchange rate of the national currency was maintained. The central bank of the Maple Leaf country intervenes only occasionally to smooth out fluctuations in the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, but does not maintain it at any particular level. Thus, no active steps were taken to prevent the fall of the national currency at the beginning of 1994, since it is rightly expected that this fall, on the one hand, will stimulate exports, and on the other, will shift the demand for Canadian-made consumer goods.

The change of government in Canada (in 1993) did not create any significant obstacles to the implementation of the agreement on the formation of a North American free trade area, which included three North American countries. Therefore, the prospects for its economic growth and increasing Canada’s role in the modern world economy seem very definite.

The European countries of the G7 occupy a special place in the world economy.

Based on the level of economic development, the nature of the economic structure, and the scale of economic activity, Western European countries are divided into several groups. The main economic power of the region comes from four large, highly industrialized countries - Germany, France, Italy, and Great Britain, which account for 50% of the population and 70% of the gross domestic product.

At the present stage in Western Europe the potential for scientific and technical research is very great. The G8 European countries are spending heavily on new research. But the overall effect is reduced by duplication of studies, so the real value of this indicator will be lower than the nominal value. However, the European part of the G8 allocates 16% less to civilian research than the United States, but twice as much as Japan. At the same time, spending in Western European countries is largely focused on basic research. These countries lag behind in key industries such as integrated circuits and semiconductors, microprocessors, supercomputers, and biomaterials. This is not surprising, since so far they have allocated almost the same amount for research in the field of microelectronics as one large company IBM allocates in the USA.

Among the factors negatively affecting the course of economic development of Western Europe, mass unemployment stands out - up to 20 million people. More than 80% of the unemployed are concentrated in EU countries. Their unemployment rate in 1996 was 11.4% of the labor force, compared with 5.5% in the United States and 3.3% in Japan.

The modern economic development of Western European countries is taking place under the sign of structural changes. These changes reflected the general trends in the development of production and the social division of labor in the conditions of the new stage of scientific and technical progress, and were also a consequence of structural crises and crises of overproduction in the 70s and early 90s.

At the present stage, shipbuilding, ferrous metallurgy, textile and coal industries have experienced a structural crisis. Industries that were growth stimulants not so long ago, such as the automotive industry, chemicals, and electrical engineering, are faced with a reduction in domestic demand and changes in the international division of labor. The most dynamic industries include the electronics industry, in which the production of industrial and special-purpose equipment, primarily computers, has gained priority. New industries and productions have emerged related to the production of robots, CNC machines, nuclear reactors, aerospace technology, and new communications equipment. However, they were not only unable to ensure high rates of economic growth, but also lagged behind the United States and Japan in their development. Domestic companies provide only 35% of regional consumption of semiconductors, 40% of electronic components, and even less integrated circuits. The Western European information technology industry provides 10% of the needs of the global and 40% of the regional markets.

The past decade has been characterized by Western Europe lagging somewhat behind its main competitors in the progressiveness of its industry structure. High-demand products account for 25% of European G8 manufacturing output, about 30% in the US and almost 40% in Japan. Recently, in the Western European economy, a large place has been occupied by the modernization of a profitably functioning production apparatus, rather than its radical renewal based on the latest technology.

As data from country comparisons on the structure of the manufacturing industry show, mechanical engineering and heavy industry have developed in the leading countries of the region. The share of chemistry is also significant. Many Western European countries are large producers of consumer products. The share of the light industry sector in Italy is 18-24%.

Most countries in the region are characterized by an increase or stabilization of the role of the food industry, both in production and in employment.

The most significant differences are in the structural indicators for the share of agriculture in the formation of GDP - from 1.5 to 8%. Highly developed countries have reached almost the limit for this indicator (2-3% of GDP). With a decrease in employment to 7% of the working population (I960 -17%), there was an increase in production volumes. Western Europe accounts for about 20% of world agricultural production. Today, the leading producers of agricultural goods in the EU are France (14.5%), Germany (13%), Italy (10%), Great Britain (8%). The relatively high growth rates of this industry contributed to an increase in the self-sufficiency of Western European countries in agricultural products and supplies to foreign markets were the main way to sell the “excess” products of the region.

Over the past years, serious changes have occurred in the fuel and energy balance of Western European countries. As a result of the implementation of comprehensive energy programs aimed at maximizing savings and increasing energy efficiency, there was a relative reduction in energy consumption, and oil consumption decreased absolutely. The reduction in energy consumption occurred in the region with varying intensity and the tendency towards its increase continued. Shifts in the structure of the energy balance are associated with a drop in the share of oil (from 52 to 45%), a significant increase in the share of nuclear energy, and an increasing role of natural gas. Natural gas is used most widely in the Netherlands, where it accounts for half of energy consumption, and in the UK. Nuclear energy is produced and consumed in 10 countries. In a number of countries it accounts for a significant portion of energy consumption, in France - over 75%.

The shifts that have taken place in recent years in the economies of Western European countries have gone in one direction - a reduction in the share of material production sectors in their GDP and an increase in the share of services. This sector currently largely determines the growth of national production and the dynamics of investment. It accounts for 1/3 of the economically active population.

This increases the importance of Western European countries as a financial center and a center for providing other types of services.

The structural restructuring of large capital led to a significant strengthening of the positions of Western European companies in the world economy. For the 70-80s. Among the 50 largest companies in the world, the number of Western European ones increased from 9 to 24. All the largest companies are international in nature. There have been changes in the balance of power between the Western European giants. Corporations from Germany and, to a lesser extent, corporations from France and Italy took the lead.

The position of British companies has weakened. Leading Western European banks retained their positions, 23 of them are among the largest 50 banks in the world (German and 6 French).

Modern processes of monopolization in Western Europe differ from similar processes in North America. The largest Western European companies occupy the strongest positions in traditional industries, significantly lagging behind in the newest knowledge-intensive ones. The industry specialization of the largest associations in Western Europe is less flexible than that of US corporations. And this, in turn, slows down the structural restructuring of the economy.

As forecasts show, the future market will have less demand for mass-produced products with the lowest possible cost level. Therefore, the role of companies that rely on a wide production program with frequent changes in manufactured models and effective adaptation to changing market conditions is increasing. The “economy of scale” is being replaced by the “economy of opportunity.” The process of decentralization of production management is gaining momentum, and the intra-company division of labor is growing. The progressive fragmentation of markets as the specialization of consumer demand deepens, the development of the service sector contributes to the growth of small businesses, which account for up to 30-45% of GDP. The growth of small business increases the flexibility of economic structures in relation to market needs.

East Asia has been considered the most dynamically developing region in the world economy in recent decades.

It is no coincidence that Japan was the first among the countries in the region to make the transition to modern economic growth. The expansionist influence of the West gave Japan in the post-war period the impetus to transition to a model of modern economic growth, which was carried out much faster and more painlessly than, say, in China.

At the end of the 19th century, starting with the Meiji reform, the Japanese government created conditions for free enterprise and initiated economic modernization. A feature of Japanese modernization of economic activity was that foreign capital occupied a small share in the creation of the modern economy, as well as the fact that the patriotic movement initiated by the state played a significant role in modernization.

As a result, in the post-war period (over the course of one generation), Japan raised its economy from ruins to a position of equality with the richest countries in the world. It did this under conditions of democratic rule and with the distribution of economic benefits among a wide range of people.

The thrift and enterprise of the Japanese played a significant role in this. Since the 50s The rate of savings in Japan was the highest in the world, often twice or more than the savings of other large industrial countries. In 1970-1972 Savings by Japanese families and unincorporated businesses amounted to 16.8% of GNP, or 13.5% after depreciation; the corresponding figures for American households were 8.5% and 5.3%. The net savings of Japanese corporations amounted to 5.8% of GNP, and of American corporations - 1.5%. The Japanese government's net savings are 7.3% of GNP, the American government's are 0.6%. Japan's total net savings amounted to 25.4% of GNP, the United States - 7.1%. This exceptionally high rate of saving continued for many years and supported a very high rate of investment during this time.

Over the past 40 years, Japan has grown rich at a phenomenal rate. From 1950 to 1990, real per capita income increased (in 1990 prices) from $1,230 to $23,970, i.e., a growth rate of 7.7% per year. Over the same period, the United States was able to achieve income growth of just 1.9% per year. Japan's post-war economic achievements were unsurpassed in world history.

Japan's modern economy relies to a surprising degree on small entrepreneurs. Almost one third of the workforce is made up of self-employed workers and unpaid members of their families (compared with less than 10% in the UK and US). In the early 80s. There were 9.5 million enterprises in Japan with fewer than 30 workers, of which 2.4 million were firms and 6 million were unincorporated business enterprises not related to agriculture. These firms employed more than half the workforce. In industry, almost half of the workforce works in enterprises with fewer than 50 workers. This proportion is repeated in Italy, but in Britain and the US the figure is around 15%.

The government encourages savings and growth of small businesses through tax breaks, financial assistance and other assistance. From small businesses, huge networks of suppliers and subcontractors of large monopolies of the “first”, “second” and “third” levels are formed. Their hands create, for example, half the cost of cars manufactured by Toyota.

Japan became the first country whose economy implemented a balanced growth model. In 1952, Japan completed the stage of modern economic growth with annual GNP growth rates of up to 5%. From 1952 to 1972, Japan went through a stage of ultra-fast growth with an annual growth rate of GNP of up to 10%. From 1973 to 1990 - the next stage - the stage of gradual attenuation of the ultra-fast growth of GNP (up to 5%). Since 1990, this country is also the first and so far the only one to enter the last stage in the implementation of the same economic model of balanced growth. This is the stage of moderate GNP growth in a mature market economy. This means that “the high growth rates of the Japanese economy will be replaced by an annual increase in GNP of an average of 2-3%. The beginning of this stage coincided with a four-year depression in the world economy, which, after seven years of prosperity, entered a serious economic crisis in 1990, from which Japan is still being chosen. This is confirmed by statistics, and in the mid-90s the Japanese economy continued to decline for the fourth year.

"BIG SEVEN"
- a group of the most developed countries (Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, USA, France, Japan), which have a significant impact on social processes in the modern world.

Big seven

The most famous of the informal intergovernmental organizations is"G-7" -- group of seven largest economies in the world: USA, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Japan. In essence, this is an elite club at the level of heads of state that arose in the 70s. XX century during the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system. Its main goal is to avoid global imbalance in the world. In 1998, mainly for political reasons, Russia was accepted into the club. In July 2006, for the first time, the summit"G-8" took place in Russia in St. Petersburg. Experts note that the main result of the summit can be called the final transformation of the organization from an elite club of developed countries that made consolidated decisions on major international issues into a discussion club that shapes the global agenda. But such an agenda is impossible without the participation of China and India. They were present in St. Petersburg as guests, but they have every reason to become full members of the club of world leaders.

In addition to intergovernmental organizations, the number of non-governmental voluntary public organizations (NGOs) is growing. Thus, about 15 thousand representatives of non-governmental organizations gathered at the World Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Such associations are widely known as"Greenpeace", "Club of Rome", " Third World Network». Despite the diversity of such organizations, their activities are usually aimed at protecting human rights, the environment, women’s rights, solving problems of developing countries, and often have an anti-globalist orientation.

In this regard, the concept arose« global public policy network» -- a joint initiative of NGOs, business circles, national governments, international organizations. Through these initiatives, participants develop public opinion, international norms and standards on specific controversial issues, such as the effectiveness of large dams. Globalization makes NGOs increasingly influential and implies the creation of a transnational network of NGOs that can influence formal agreements. Their main argument is the thesis that the established institutions of international governance suffer from a deep democratic deficit. The activities of these organizations are not subject to the will of the population - there is no system of direct democratic elections, and information, public control and discussion are extremely limited. This means that decisions taken may serve the narrow commercial interests of certain groups of individuals or countries.

Contents

1. History of the G7

2. The need to create an informal club

3. Membership of the G7

4. The role of the G7 in the world

5. Topics and meeting places"Big Seven"

6. Name list of participants"Big Seven"

7. England - Prime Ministers

Germany - Federal Chancellors

Italy - Chairmen of the Council of Ministers

Country of the Maple Leaf - Prime Ministers

USA - presidents

France - presidents

Land of the Rising Sun - Prime Ministers

The G7 is a regular summit meeting of the leaders of the seven most economically developed countries - the USA, the Land of the Rising Sun, Germany, France, Italy, England, and the Land of the Maple Leaf.

History of the G7

The history of this international informal forum dates back to November 1975, when, on the initiative of French President V. Giscard d'Estaing, the first meeting of the leaders of six countries took place in Rambouillet, which was joined a year later by the Country of the Maple Leaf. Since 1977, representatives of the EU leadership have been participating in the meetings: President of the European Commission and head of state holding the EU Presidency.

Purpose of creation: acceleration of integration processes; development and implementation of anti-crisis policy; coordination of economic and financial relations; highlighting priorities in the sphere of economics and politics; searching for ways to overcome emerging contradictions between countries"sevens" and others. Decisions made at meetings are implemented both through the system of international economic organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Trade Organization (WTO); Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and through government institutions"sevens".

In June 1997 at the summit in Denver (USA) it was decided to join the Russian Federation. Hence,"seven" transformed into"eight". At the G8 summits Russia, however, is not yet taking part in the discussion of some issues. In recent years, Russia has been trying to enter this selected composition and thereby turn it into« Big Eight». So far, Russia has fully participated in meetings at which political issues were resolved: meetings"eights" on counter-terrorism issues in Egypt in December 1995, on nuclear safety issues in Moscow in April 1996. However, when discussing economic issues, the President of the Russian Federation was invited only for informal negotiations during meetings"Big Seven" but not for the meetings themselves.

In April 1996, a special G7 summit on nuclear safety was held in Moscow with the full participation of the Russian Federation. In 1998, in Birmingham (Britain), the club of leaders of industrial countries finally became the G8. In 2006, Russia presided over the club, which indicates the strengthening of the position of the Russian Federation as an equal participant in the G8 in the international political arena.

The need to create an informal club

The forum of leaders of industrialized countries owes its appearance to a series of major international events that led to crisis phenomena in the global economy in the early 1970s:

The collapse of the Bretton Woods financial system and the unsuccessful attempts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Regional Development Bank to reform the world monetary system;

The first EU enlargement in 1972 and its consequences for the Western economy;

The international oil crisis of October 1973, which led to serious disagreements between the Western powers regarding the development of a common approach to the OPEC countries;

Inflation and rising unemployment in countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development as a consequence of the oil crisis.

Membership of the G7

Each of the G7 members is included in it not only on the basis of GDP size - its place is determined by the logic of post-war history and world economic development. It is clear that the United States, a world superpower with enormous industrial and, most importantly, military potential, should be No. 1 in any “seven,” “eight,” or “ten.” Exactly the same as England - unofficial No. 2 in the Western hierarchy (and in some positions, No. 1) - the economic and once organizational metropolis of vast territories, which has retained its influence on them to one degree or another. Australia, the Country of the Maple Leaf, as well as New Zealand and about fifty other small island states are its dominions to this day. The official head of state there is the British Queen. Even India, having acquired complete political independence more than half a century ago, retained the closest economic ties with England. The entire elite of Indian society was educated on the shores of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, and flights to London go from the international airports of Delhi, Bombay and Calcutta, like metro trains.

France is also a country with rich colonial traditions. Its intelligence services still determine political vectors and economic realities in many African regions, and sometimes the former metropolis simply sends its “limited contingent” to restore order in one or another “independent” African state. In addition, France has a certain influence in the world of culture and education, especially in the fields of sociology and political science.

Germany, of course, as a country that lost in World War II, was initially heavily dependent on the first three members of the seven, which predetermined its more “modest” place in the Western hierarchy. Which, in principle, continues to persist despite the fact that today it is the most populated country in Western Europe and the most powerful industrial power on the continent.

The country of the samurai - the main and first of the "Asian tigers", personifying the "showcase of the achievements of capitalism in Asia", like Germany, initially opposed the Asian socialist countries. At the same time, the economy of the Land of the Samurai after World War II was very dependent on the United States, its main trading partner and political overseer (we must not forget that American bases are still located in the Land of the Rising Sun). Factories of Japanese companies are located in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and other countries in Southeast Asia. At the same time, the Japanese elite is isolated from the influential circles of the rest of the countries of Southeast Asia for historical and cultural reasons, and this also makes it the safest Asian partner for the United States and Europe. In fact, the Land of the Rising Sun in the G7 is an economic trailer for the United States.

Italy is a country with great economic potential and a workforce suitable for use in highly profitable areas. For example, Italy, to this day, dresses and shoes the “upper middle class” and wealthy people throughout Europe. The huge Italian diaspora has great influence in the US and other countries. In addition, Italian aristocratic clans have long been tightly integrated into the world elite.

The Maple Leaf Country is an industrial and agricultural country with enormous resources. In addition, being both the closest neighbor of the United States and a British dominion, the Country of the Maple Leaf serves as an economic bridge between these powers.

But still, the most important factor is that these seven states occupy first places in the number of transnational corporations (TNCs) they have created. And although recently, in order to reduce taxation, the head offices of many TNCs and subsidiaries are registered in offshore companies, the real brain centers of the vast majority of corporations are located in the G7 countries. The notorious globalization, both trade and financial, concerns primarily the G7 countries. We can say that the "Big Seven" is the business center of the metropolis under the general name "Western Civilization."

The role of the G7 in the world

The role of the G7 in the world is exceptionally great. In addition to the fact that there are constant meetings of ministers and the so-called “sherpas” - assistants to world leaders - every year it gathers for its summit (usually in June-July), and this summit, the economic trading session of this summit announces, accepts an economic communiqué that effectively sets the rules of the game for the global economy for the next year.

This is a kind of peculiar synchronization of watches between world leaders. And although the G7 is a completely informal club, in economics it plays a role quite close to that played in politics and military matters by the UN Security Council.

There are no formal mechanisms for coordinating interests. But, say, the United States of America does not have the dominant position that it has in NATO or the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They cannot achieve any decision, at least without neutrality on the part of the Land of the Samurai and Germany.

The significance of the annual economic communique lies not only in the fact that it is a declaration of intent by the largest countries of the world, but they carry it out by personal example, i.e. when two-thirds of the economy plays according to the rules communicated in advance to everyone else, if someone in the world starts fail to comply with these rules, he finds himself in the position of that very lieutenant who walks in step while the rest of the company is out of step.

It must be said that despite the natural inertia for such a large structure, well, bureaucratization cannot be avoided when you have seven governments working at the same time. The G7 is an extremely effective mechanism for overcoming crises that have already arisen. It cannot, at least until now could not, predict those crises that are only expected and act preventively.
etc.................

Big Seven (G7) is a group of seven industrialized countries: Japan, France, USA, Canada, Italy, Germany and Great Britain (see Fig. 1). The G7 was created during the oil crisis of the 1970s of the last century as an informal club. Main goals of creation:

coordination of financial and economic relations;
acceleration of integration processes;
development and effective implementation of anti-crisis policy;
searching for all possible ways to overcome contradictions that arise both between the G7 member countries and with other states;
identifying priorities in the economic and political spheres.

(Fig. 1 - Flags of the G7 member countries)

According to the provisions of the G7, decisions made at meetings should be implemented not only through the system of major international economic organizations (such as the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), but also through the G7 government institutions.

The decision on the need to hold meetings of the leaders of the above countries was made in connection with the deterioration of relations between Japan, Western Europe and the United States on a number of financial and economic issues. The first meeting was organized by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (then President of France) in Rambouillet on November 15-17, 1975. It brought together the heads of six countries: Japan, France, Germany, the USA, Italy and Great Britain. Canada joined the club in 1976 at a meeting in Puerto Rico. Since that time, meetings of participating countries began to be called G7 “summits” and take place on a regular basis.

In 1977, the leaders of the European Union arrived as observers at the summit, which was hosted by London. Since then, their participation in these meetings has become a tradition. Since 1982, the scope of the G7's activities has also included political issues.

Russia's first participation in the G7 occurred in 1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the USSR, was invited to the summit. But it was only in June 1997, at a meeting in Denver, that a decision was made to join the “club of seven” of Russia. However, Russia still does not take part in the discussion of some issues.

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3. Russia in the G7

5. Benefits from Russian support for the G7

Conclusion

1. "Seven" leading countries of the world in the global economy

Countries with developed economies are considered to be those states that are characterized by the presence of market relations in the economy, a high level of rights and civil liberties in public and political life. All countries with developed economies belong to the capitalist model of development, although the nature of the development of capitalist relations has serious differences here. The level of GDP per capita in almost all developed countries is not lower than 15 thousand dollars per year, the state-guaranteed level of social protection (pensions, unemployment benefits, compulsory health insurance), life expectancy, quality of education and medical care, level cultural development. Developed countries have passed through the agricultural and industrial stage of development with the predominant importance and contribution to the creation of GDP from agriculture and industry. Now these countries are at the stage of post-industrialism, which is characterized by the leading role in the national economy of the sphere of intangible production, creating from 60% to 80% of GDP, efficient production of goods and services, high consumer demand, constant progress in science and technology, strengthening the social policy of the state .

The IMF includes primarily the leading capitalist countries, called the Group of Seven (G7), which includes the United States, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Canada, as a group of countries with developed economies. These states occupy a dominant position in the world economy, primarily due to their powerful economic, scientific, technical and military potential, large population, and high level of total and specific GDP.

Further, the group of developed countries includes the countries of Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, which are relatively small in comparison with the G7 potential, but highly developed economically, scientifically and technologically.

Their inclusion in the group of developed countries was a credit for the rapid progress in economic development in the post-war period. This is truly a unique example in world history, when people who represented absolutely nothing back in the 1950s. countries captured world economic leadership in a number of positions and turned into important global industrial, scientific, technical and financial centers. The level of GDP per capita and quality of life in the “dragon” countries and Israel have come very close to those of leading developed countries and in some cases (Hong Kong, Singapore) even exceed most of the G7 countries. However, in the subgroup under consideration there are certain problems with the development of the free market in its Western understanding; it has its own philosophy of the formation of capitalist relations.

Developed countries are the main group of countries in the world economy. At the end of the 90s. they accounted for 55% of world GDP, 71% of world trade, and most international capital flows. The G7 countries account for more than 44% of world GDP, including the USA - 21%, Japan - 7%, Germany - 5%. Most developed countries are members of integration associations, of which the most powerful are the European Union - EU (20% of world GDP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement - NAFTA (24%).

The G7 is a regular summit meeting of the leaders of the seven most economically developed countries (USA, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, UK, Canada), held to develop common strategic political and economic decisions. Since 1994, in economic meetings at the highest level of the countries "B.S." Russia participates, turning "B.S." to the Big Eight.

The BIG EIGHT (G8) is an international club that unites the governments of the world's leading democracies. It is sometimes associated with the "board of directors" of leading democratic economic systems. Many politicians define it as “one of the key informal mechanisms for coordinating the financial, economic and political course” of the USA, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada, Russia and the European Union. The role of the G8 in world politics is determined by the economic and military potential of its member powers.

The G8 does not have its own charter, headquarters or secretariat. Unlike the informal but broader World Economic Forum, it does not have a public relations department or even a website. Nevertheless, the G8 is one of the most important international regulators in the modern world and stands on a par with such international organizations as the IMF, WTO, and OECD.

2. Main problems addressed by the G7

The G7 was formed in the mid-70s, consisting of the leaders of the USA, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, which is taking steps to coordinate the policies of leading Western countries. The form of its activities has become annual meetings, the main purpose of which is to develop recommendations on the most pressing economic problems of the world economy.

The political urgency of economic problems predetermined the main issues of the meetings:

* ways to improve the economy;

* energy problems;

* international trade;

* ways to stabilize the currency system;

* relations between industrialized and developing countries;

* problems of countries with economies in transition.

The increasing complexity of problems in the monetary and financial field necessitated the formation of an additional body. In 1985, a separate group of finance ministers and central bank governors was established in Venice. Their responsibilities were added to annually analyze and compare the economic policy goals and economic development forecasts of each country, paying special attention to their mutual compatibility.

The annual meetings of the heads of the seven leading Western countries constitute an important element of the coordination mechanism in the global economy. They reached agreements on stabilizing exchange rates (the La Plaza Agreement in 1985 and the Louvre Agreement in 1987), and developed a debt strategy for the poorest and middle-income countries (Toronto, 1988, Paris, 1989 ., Cologne, 1999), identified ways to support reforms in Eastern European countries (Paris, 1990), etc.

3. Russia in the G7

The G8 owes its appearance to a series of major international events that led to crisis phenomena in the world economy in the early 1970s.

1) The collapse of the Bretton Woods financial system and the unsuccessful attempts of the IMF and the World Bank to reform the world monetary system;

2) the first EU enlargement in 1972 and its consequences for the Western economy;

3) the first international oil crisis of October 1973, which led to serious disagreements between Western countries regarding the common position with the OPEC countries;

4) the economic recession in the OECD countries that began in 1974 as a consequence of the oil crisis, accompanied by inflation and rising unemployment.

Under these conditions, a need arose for a new mechanism for coordinating the interests of leading Western countries. Since 1973, the finance ministers of the United States, Germany, Great Britain and France, and later Japan, began to meet periodically in informal settings to discuss problems of the international financial system. In 1975, French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (both former finance ministers) invited the heads of other leading Western states to gather in a narrow informal circle for face-to-face communication. The first summit was held in 1975 in Rambouillet with the participation of the United States and Germany , Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. In 1976, Canada joined the club, and since 1977, the European Union as a spokesman for the interests of all its member countries.

There are several approaches to periodizing the history of the G8.

Based on the topics of meetings and activities, there are 4 stages in the development of the G7/8:

1. 1975-1980 - very ambitious plans for the development of the economic policies of the member countries;

2. 1981-1988 - attention to non-economic issues of foreign policy increases;

3. 1989-1994 - the first steps after the Cold War: the restructuring of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the USSR (Russia), in addition to the traditional problems of the development of trade and debt. New topics such as the environment, drugs, money laundering are emerging;

4. After the Halifax summit (1995) - the current stage of development. Formation of the G8 (inclusion of the Russian Federation). Reforming international institutions ("new world order").

The question of whether the G8 is a full-fledged eight when the G7 plus one became the G8 - the question of what role Russia played and is playing in this organization is still highly controversial. Its membership in the G8 was initially perceived with great reservations and criticism both abroad and in Russia itself. However, at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. In Russia and abroad, more serious interest in this topic appeared, a more respectful and informed attitude on the part of public opinion and the media.

Since 1991, Russia began to be invited to participate in the work of the G7. Since 1994, this has happened in the “7+1” format. In April 1996, a special G7 summit on nuclear security was held in Moscow with the full participation of Russia. And in the spring of 1998, a ministerial meeting of the Seven on world energy issues was held in Moscow. In 1998, in Birmingham (England), the G7 officially became the G8, giving Russia the formal right to full participation in this club of great powers. In the fall of 1999, at the initiative of Russia, a G8 ministerial conference on combating transnational organized crime was held in Moscow.

In 2002, at a summit in Kananaskis (Canada), the G8 leaders stated that “Russia has demonstrated its potential as a full and important participant in solving global problems.” In general, in the 1990s, the participation of the Russian Federation was limited to the search for new loans, the restructuring of external debt, the fight against discrimination of Russian goods, the recognition of Russia as a country with a market economy, the desire to join the Paris Club of creditors, the WTO and the OECD, as well as nuclear safety issues. By the beginning of the 21st century. the country recovered from the 1998 crisis and the role of the Russian Federation changed. At the summit in Okinawa (Japan, 2000), Russia no longer raised the issue of loans and debt restructuring. In 2001, at a meeting in Genoa, the Russian Federation for the first time acted as a donor for some G8 programs. In the spring of 2003 alone, the Russian Federation allocated $10 million to the trust fund of the Cologne Initiative of the Paris Club of Creditors and provided $11 million to the World Food Program. Prior to this, the Russian side decided to allocate $20 million to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In terms of participation in the program for writing off the debts of the world's poorest countries, Russia is the leader of the G8 in terms of such indicators as the share of reduced debts in GDP and their ratio to per capita income. It is planned that Russia will chair the G8 summit in 2006.

However, according to international experts, although the geopolitical significance of Russia is beyond doubt, its economic power still does not correspond to the level of other G8 countries, and therefore Russian representatives only partially participate in the meetings of finance ministers and heads of central banks of the G8 members eight". Experts agree that a country's "100%" participation in the G8 is not feasible until it becomes a member of two other key international organizations - the WTO and the OECD.

“Russia has never been a full member of the G7,” says Yevgeny Yasin. “In the 90s, she did not have the money for this, and the “financial Big Seven” primarily resolves monetary issues,” explains the expert. “Then money appeared, but Russia changed its mind about living in a democracy.” Therefore, according to him, until now Russia is invited to participate only in meetings of G8 heads of state, but not in financial meetings. “So the claims of our Foreign Ministry are unfounded,” the economist is sure. According to Dmitry Orlov, Director General of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications, there is no point in dramatizing the situation. “I believe that Russia is a full member of the G8, it’s just that these meetings themselves are political clubs, and politicians have different phases of relationships,” he says. “By and large, it is beneficial for the G7 to keep Russia inside this club, and not outside, so as not to lose the mechanisms of influence on it,” the expert believes.

4. Russia's interest in participating in the G7

Russia's participation in the G8 promises benefits both for Russia itself and for this organization as a whole. It is beneficial to Russia - and to all those Americans who want to see Russia friendly and Europeanized - as the best way today to preserve and strengthen Russia's ties with the West. And this benefits the G8 as an organization because it increases its own importance.

This situation contains opportunities that the West can exploit. Unfortunately, the West is acting against its own interests, focusing its discourse instead on thoughts of Russia's exclusion from the G8.

The G8 is the right forum for Russia. It is the largest Western institution with the widest geographical reach: it is both transatlantic and transpacific. With Russia's inclusion in the G8, it has now become pan-northern. The "North" is a group of countries that have many important things in common. When the North is united, the world becomes quite united; when it is disconnected, the world descends into conflict, as it did throughout the 20th century. Russia's membership in no way diminished the identity of this organization, neither in terms of its purpose nor in geographical terms; on the contrary, it strengthened this identity, filling the gap that existed in it.

The G8 is also the most Western institution with the most broad interests. It is ready to consider any aspect of mutual cooperation and global governance - in fact, everything that is of mutual interest for Russia and Western countries. It is better suited to the contours of Russia's cooperation with the West than most other Western institutions.

Further, the G8 is an institution to which Russia cannot have any claims that are a relic of the Cold War. The G8, in turn, has nothing against Russia that remains from the Cold War. She owes this virtue to one of her vices: she does not have a permanent apparatus that could accumulate such reasons for nervousness or “environmental culture” (milieu culture). As an institution it has minimal structure; It's possible that she could have more baggage, but in the meantime she's adaptable. Its only area of semi-formalized cooperation - monitoring the macroeconomy and coordinating the activities of central banks regarding foreign exchange interventions - is not an area in which Russia is involved, and this is due to honest technical reasons (not political reasons that, for the sake of diplomatic purposes, masquerade as innocuous technical reasons, like often happens with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, abbreviated NATO). However, the main part of the G8 - the summit of heads of state - is absolutely flexible. The Summit of Heads of State has great potential for reforming the structure that underpins it, but for decades this potential has remained almost completely unrealized.

Russia first started talking about joining the G8 (then G7) during the Gorbachev era. Representatives of the West, in turn, began to talk about admitting Russia to this organization in the last years of the Gorbachev era. Over the next decade, Russia gradually became involved in this organization, first as an observer or guest, then as a member of the G7 plus One, and then as a “political” G8. At every stage of its involvement, Russia's participation has proven beneficial to both sides. Today the G8 is the only transatlantic institution in which Russia is a full member; in all other organizations Russia has not yet completed the accession process or is still left behind.

Indeed, the G8 is the only Western institution that Russia not only supports, but that it would like to see become stronger. This is partly because she is a member of this organization; partly because there is a natural attraction that allows it to identify itself with this organization after it has become a member (one must assume that Russia would not want the strengthening of some other groups, for example, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in which it participates). In this case, this can perhaps be seen as an indicator of the support that can be counted on when Russia joins other Western institutions. Sergei Karaganov has long been saying that in the case of NATO, Russia will continue to look at this organization with fear while it is outside of it, but will support NATO as soon as it joins it. This is consistent with the elementary logic of realism and Russia's own oft-repeated "dialectical" formulations that it is not against NATO, not against NATO's use of military force, and not against NATO expansion as such, but is opposed to the use of military force and NATO expansion, which Russia is not included in. allowed or in which she is not given a strong enough voice in decision-making. However, this is not consistent with NATO assessments of Russia's approaches, which are generally classified according to a simple scheme as pro-NATO or anti-NATO without any reference to the determining conditions. This oversimplified method of assessment in the West creates a new barrier for Russia that is difficult to overcome, and some would argue that it is something of a vicious circle. In the case of the G7, Russia was never particularly “against”, neither with the defining conditions, nor in general, and therefore there was no such barrier in front of it that it needed to overcome. In any case, Russia today is a member of the G8, and Russia supports this organization.

5. Benefits from Russian support for the G8

The fact that Russia supports a pan-Western organization is not so important. This greatly enhances the global strength of this organization. This takes into account not only the addition of Russia's material resources, which are still significant, but also the addition of faith in the legitimacy of this organization among those countries of the world that are clients of Russia, especially those who, to one degree or another, are its “moral clients.” " - which sometimes expands this category, since Moscow acquired a vast moral clientele during the Cold War, which included a number of governments and secular radical forces within almost every country in the world.

The strengthening of the pan-Western organization thanks to Russia, in turn, entails a more concrete strengthening of the power and legitimacy of Western global leadership. This is a factor that in our time has a certain importance for America and for the American-Western claims to a leading role in the world.

Further, Russia's support for the Western organization has the potential to give political acceleration to the development processes of the G8, since Russia is a country that still has some innovative capabilities in this period of transformation. The West has a keen interest in seeing its overall institutions and arrangements become more effective, but this is something that it has never been able to achieve easily in the face of opposition from vested interests within each country and government. It is beneficial for the West for Russia to act as a new force that will move this process forward.

On the contrary, the West will be disadvantaged if Russia remains in the uncomfortable position of an outside observer and acts as a nervous, fearful critic of Western unity. Russian objections often slowed down the process of Western integration. As has already been said, Russia has always had a large moral clientele in the West, and in any case Western diplomats, although they were often too slow after 1989 in deciding how to bring Russia into their circle, generally believed that the stupid were too strong put pressure on Russia, while at the same time keeping it at the door. During the Cold War, Russia sought to split the Western alliance, and so it became commonplace to accuse Russia of trying to “divide and deceive the West,” something it is still often accused of in NATO circles, and which much of the Western elite believed. until 1990, considering this the real reason for the reforms started by Gorbachev. What Russia really wants today, however - at least in the case of the G8 - is not to divide and deceive, but to further unite and strengthen the West.

We can say that Russia has great ambitions regarding the G8 - the kind of ambitions that one might think the West should have, and which it, unfortunately, lacks. Russia sees the G8 as an increasingly important body of global governance; Some Russian analysts call it a kind of "emerging world government" that complements but does not entirely replace the UN Security Council, which has suffered because its structure has remained unchanged since 1945. Russia's views on the most pressing challenges of global governance—the war on terrorism and the fight against nuclear proliferation—are consistent with those of other G8 countries, especially the United States. However, instead of relying on this support to improve the G8, today the West is talking about throwing Russia out of this organization. This is being presented as an object lesson to teach Russia about democracy, although such a move would harm the West's own interests.

6. Attempts to suspend Russia's membership

Part of the problem is the West's misunderstanding of what the G8 is. Many of the proponents of Russia's exclusion focus on Russia rather than on the Atlantic institutions as such. This is an abyss in which they are far from alone: in general, there is public misunderstanding in the West of the concept of Atlantic institutions. A number of supporters of Russia's exclusion have stated: - that it "makes sense" to expel Russia from the G8 because it is a "club of democratic states." They don't ask what practical benefit would be from excluding Russia; they just feel that doing so would be in some sense "right" for their idea of the G8.

In reality, the G8 is not a club of democratic states, nor is it a school of democracy, nor is it a place where the purity of democracy in a particular country should be assessed. To find institutions of this kind, one should look to the Council of Europe and the emerging global Community of Democracies. It would be worthwhile to discuss whether Russia is democratic enough to “belong” to these clubs. But the G8 has nothing to do with this.

The G8 is a practical institution for solving common problems. It is part of an expanded Atlantic cohort of institutions that includes NATO, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other institutions. Russia maintains ties with almost all of the above organizations, and has already joined some of them.

The G7 was created in the 1970s to coordinate the economies of Western powers following the collapse of the original monetary system that was created under the Bretton Woods agreements. Gradually it took on a broader role as a general summit of Western powers on international issues. In the mid-1980s, at the instigation of US Treasury Secretary James Baker, she began to work on economic issues. Gradually, the G7 expanded its political functions, increasing the agenda of the summits from time to time. After accepting Russia into the organization, the now G8 again expanded its political role, which for clarity should be called again: coordination of foreign policy, but not mutual political education or teaching democracy. The inclusion of Russia was a natural step, and one that proved beneficial for the group as a whole.

The original members of the G8 were among the major powers - members of the OECD, which had already existed for about 10 years by the time the G7 was formed. Since Russia intends to enter the OECD, and since the OECD has decided that it will admit Russia as soon as Russia meets the technical and economic conditions, the G8 summit, with its less formal and less technical role, is the logical place for Russia at this stage .

Some, such as James Huntley, see the G8, with its summits, as a place of greater potential energy and distinction than other transatlantic institutions, and propose to build on that fact. They propose, for the sake of continuity of work, to create a secretariat in the G8, instructing it to activate the entire complex of Western institutions by planning initiatives for them and jointly giving this institution a public face. In this way, the G8 could give the Atlantic institutions a collective identity and distinction as a global community of nations. In fact, it would breathe new life into what we used to call the "Atlantic community." Whether such a vision will be realized or not is not yet clear, but the prospects for evolution in this direction have certainly increased with Russia’s inclusion in the G8, which has already led to an increase in its political role.

Nothing in international life is perfect, and Russia doesn't quite fit into the old G7 either. It doesn't quite fit in economically, but even here its presence helps complement the group's global hegemony by adding Russia's vast natural resources - oil, natural gas and other important minerals - to plug a large hole in the previously unreliable mineral supply chain. pursued the Big Seven. Russia doesn't quite fit in politically, but then Japan didn't fit in either for decades, when it had a hegemonic regime that regularly received the support of a majority of voters, just like Putin's regime. However, Japan's membership was beneficial in terms of peacefully transforming Japan's system of consensual quasi-democracy into a more Western-style pluralistic system. Russia is also not the only country in the group's history to suffer from unfair discredit: waves of attacks on Japan in the 1980s and early 1990s, replete with conspiracy theories that accused the Japanese elite of only pretending to building a Western market economy and democracy, but in reality preparing to return to global dominance, threatened the unity of this group even more than exaggerated attacks on Russia's political evolution today. There is every reason to stop exaggerating the differences between Russia and the rest of the group and instead emphasize the possibilities inherent in the fundamentally normal fit that has existed and continues to exist between group members and Russia.

Conclusion

The value of the G8 lies in the fact that in the modern world, heads of state are so busy that they do not have the opportunity to go beyond communicating with a narrow circle of close associates and considering the most pressing, current problems. The G8 summits free them from this routine and allow them to take a broader look at international problems through someone else's eyes, providing a real opportunity to build understanding and coordinate actions. In the words of Joe Clark, "they free multilateral negotiations from their inherent bureaucracy and mistrust." According to the authoritative opinion of the Atlantic Council research group, the G8 summits are less and less striking the world with global initiatives and are increasingly turning into a forum for identifying new threats and problems with a view to their subsequent solution within the framework of other international organizations.

economics market international Russian

Bibliography

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2. The G7 are big problems. - Nezavisimaya Gazeta 05/16/2001

3. The G7 is optimistic about the prospects for the global economy. - Nezavisimaya Gazeta 03/2/2003

5. Protopopov A., Kozmenko V, Elmanova N. History of international relations and foreign policy of Russia (1648-2000). M.: Aspect Press, 2001.

6. Yakovlev A.G. “Bipolarity is the main parameter of the world community yesterday, today, and tomorrow.” IB No. 13. M.; IFES RAS, 1997

7. Hajnal P., Meikle S. The G7/G8 System. University of Toronto, 1999

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Tasks

As of early March 2014, the G8 countries include the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Russia, the United States of America, Canada and Japan. As a rule, the club's task is to record the parties' intentions to adhere to a certain agreed line. States can only recommend to other international participants to take certain decisions on pressing international issues. However, the club plays an important role in the modern world. The composition of the G8 announced above changed in March 2014 when Russia was expelled from the club. The G7 today is as significant for the world community as large organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the WTO, and the OECD.

History of origin

In 1975, the first meeting of the G6 (Big Six) was held in Rambouillet (France) on the initiative of French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The meeting brought together the heads of countries and governments of France, the United States of America, Great Britain, Japan, Germany and Italy. As a result of the meeting, a joint declaration on economic problems was adopted, which called for the abandonment of aggression in trade and the establishment of new barriers to discrimination. In 1976, Canada joined the club, turning the “six” into a “seven”. The club was conceived more as an enterprise with a discussion of macroeconomic problems. , but then global topics began to arise. In the eighties of the twentieth century, the agendas became more diverse than just resolving economic issues. Leaders discussed the external political situation in developed countries and in the world as a whole.

From "seven" to "eight"

In 1997, the club began to position itself as a "Big Eight" as Russia was included in the roster. In this regard, the range of questions has expanded again. Military-political problems became important topics. G8 members have begun to propose plans to reform the club's composition. For example, ideas have been floated to replace leaders' meetings with video conferences to avoid the huge financial costs of holding summits and ensuring the safety of members. Also, the G8 states put forward the option of including more countries, for example, Australia and Singapore, to transform the club into the G20. This idea was then abandoned because it would have been more difficult to make decisions with a large number of participating countries. As the twenty-first century begins, new global themes emerge and the G8 countries address current issues. Discussion of terrorism and cybercrime comes to the fore.

United States of America and Germany

The G7 brings together significant participants in the world political arena. The United States of America uses the club to promote its strategic goals on the international stage. American leadership was especially strong during the financial crisis in the Asia-Pacific region, when the United States achieved approval of favorable action plans to resolve it.

Germany is also an important member of the G7. The Germans use their participation in this club as an influential means to assert and strengthen their country's growing role in the world. Germany is actively striving to pursue a single agreed line of the European Union. The Germans are putting forward the idea of strengthening control over the global financial system and major exchange rates.

France

France participates in the G7 club in order to ensure its position as a "country with global responsibility". In close cooperation with the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance, it plays an active role in world and European affairs. Together with Germany and Japan, France advocates the idea of centralized control over the movement of global capital to prevent currency speculation. Also, the French do not support “wild globalization,” arguing that it leads to a gap between the less developed part of the world and more developed countries. In addition, in countries that are suffering from a financial crisis, the social stratification of society is worsening. That is why, at the proposal of France, the topic of the social consequences of globalization was included at the meeting in Cologne in 1999.

France is also concerned about the negative attitude of many Western countries towards the development of nuclear energy, since 85% of electricity is generated at nuclear power plants on its territory.

Italy and Canada

For Italy, participation in the G7 is a matter of national prestige. She is proud of her membership in the club, which allows her to more actively pursue her claims in international affairs. Italy is interested in all political issues discussed at the meetings, and also does not ignore other topics. The Italians proposed giving the G7 the character of a “permanent mechanism for consultations,” and also sought to provide for regular meetings of foreign ministers on the eve of the summit.

For Canada, the G7 is one of the important and useful institutions for ensuring and promoting its international interests. At the Birmingham summit, Canadians pushed issues relevant to their niches in world affairs, such as banning landmines, onto the agenda. The Canadians also wanted to create the image of a petitioner on those issues on which the leading powers had not yet reached a consensus. Regarding the future activities of the G7, the Canadians' opinion is to rationally organize the work of the forum. They support the "presidents only" formula and holding separate meetings of foreign ministers two to three weeks before the meetings.

Great Britain

The UK highly values its membership of the G7. The British believe that this emphasizes their country's status as a great power. Thus, the country can influence the resolution of important international issues. In 1998, while the UK chaired the meeting, it raised discussions of global economic problems and issues related to the fight against crime. The British also insisted on simplifying the summit procedure and the composition of the G7. They suggested holding meetings with a minimum number of participants and in an informal setting in order to concentrate on a more limited number of issues in order to resolve them more effectively.

Japan

Japan is not a member of the United Nations Security Council, NATO or the European Union, so participation in the G7 summits has special meaning for it. This is the only forum where Japan can influence world affairs and strengthen its position as an Asian leader.

The Japanese use the G7 to put forward their political initiatives. In Denver, they proposed to discuss on the agenda countering international terrorism, combating infectious diseases, and providing assistance for the development of African countries. Japan actively supported solutions to the problems of international crime, the environment and employment. At the same time, the Japanese Prime Minister was unable to ensure that at that time the G8 countries of the world paid attention to the need to make a decision on the Asian financial and economic crisis. After this crisis, Japan insisted on developing new “rules of the game” in order to achieve greater transparency in international finance for both global organizations and private enterprises.

The Japanese have always taken an active part in solving world problems, such as providing employment, fighting international crime, arms control and others.

Russia

In 1994, after the G7 summit in Naples, several separate meetings were held between Russian leaders and G7 leaders. Russian President Boris Yeltsin took part in them on the initiative of Bill Clinton, the head of America, and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister. At first he was invited as a guest, and after some time - as a full participant. As a result, Russia became a member of the club in 1997.

Since that time, the G8 has significantly expanded the range of issues discussed. The Russian Federation held the presidency in 2006. At that time, the stated priorities of the Russian Federation were energy security, the fight against infectious diseases and their spread, the fight against terrorism, education, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, development of the global economy and finance, development of world trade, environmental protection .

Club goals

The G8 leaders met at summits annually, usually in the summer, on the territory of the Chairmanship State. In June 2014, Russia was not invited to the summit in Brussels. In addition to the heads of state and government of the member countries, two representatives from the European Union participate in the meetings. Proxies of members of a particular G7 country (Sherpas) set the agenda.

The chairman of the club during the year is the leader of one of the countries in a certain order. The G8's goals in Russia's membership in the club are to solve various pressing problems that arise in the world at one time or another. Now they remain the same. All participating countries are leading in the world, so their leaders face the same economic and political problems. Common interests bring leaders together, which allows them to harmonize their discussions and conduct fruitful meetings.

Weight of the Big Seven

The G7 has its significance and value in the world because its summits allow heads of state to look at international problems through someone else's eyes. Summits identify new threats in the world - political and economic, and allow them to be prevented or eliminated through joint decision-making. All G7 members highly value participation in the club and are proud to belong to it, although they primarily pursue the interests of their countries.

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