How the G8 became the G20

• By: Dayo Olopade | Posted: September 24, 2009 at 7:24 AM

NEW YORK—On the eve of the international political conference in Pittsburgh known as the Group of 20, President Barack Obama addressed a packed main hall of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. Making his first appearance before the international diplomatic and peacekeeping body, Obama stressed that expectations of global cooperation now drive American foreign policy.

"In an era when our destiny is shared, power is no longer a zero sum game," he said. "No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed. No balance of power among nations will hold. The traditional division between nations of the south and north makes no sense in an interconnected world."

After eight years of unilateralism under George W. Bush, the message of outreach and inclusion was received with enthusiastic applause. But as Obama lands in Pittsburgh, it's worth remembering that until recently, a smaller, more elite group of eight countries dominated global discussion. Leaders from those nations will have their own meetings during the two-day conference devoted to climate change, nuclear security and restabilizing the global economy. Yet it’s almost guaranteed that you'll hear more about the G20 than the G8. Suddenly, the organization, created in 1975, is "no longer the board of directors of the world," but a more inclusive organization, said David Wessel of the Wall Street Journal, while addressing the Council on Foreign Relations last week.

But just when did the G8 become the G20?

Originally, the G8 was the Group of 7—which included finance ministers from the U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan. In 1998, it became the G8 for "political reasons," according to former President Bill Clinton. The massive and resurgent Russian Federation could no longer be credibly excluded from the debate. Similarly, says Clinton, the dozen other countries at this week's G20 gathering have earned a seat at the table by representing the increasingly diverse elements of a more interdependent world order. "It's not a bipolar world, as it was during the Cold War, not a polar world, as it was briefly in the aftermath of the Cold War," Clinton told The Root.

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