ARTIKEL /ARTICLES Global Governance Beyond the G8: Reform Prospects for the Summit Architecture THOMAS FUES T he tectonic power shifts resulting from the explosive growth in the in­fluence of the up-and-coming states in the South – particularly China and India – are taking the global system off its hinges(Messner 2006). The supremacy of the West which commenced with the Industrial Revo­lution at the end of the eighteenth century is beginning to falter. The ero­sion of Western power is mirrored most dramatically in the summit ar­chitecture. In contrast to the founding phase of the 1970s, the G8 today, the group of the seven dominant industrialized countries(G7= Germany, France, uk , Italy, Japan, Canada, and usa ) plus Russia, can no longer lay claim to sole leadership of the world economy. What are the conse­quences for global governance structures? Should the summit architec­ture be reformed or completely abolished? A related question is: What will be the future role of the universalist United Nations in the coordina­tion of global politics? In Germany Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück of all people has estab­lished himself as the prominent advocate of an extension of the exclusive G8 club to include the most important developing nations. At the end of 2006 he surprised the international community by declaring that the G8 will become superfluous in the medium term and must be replaced by a body of selected state and government leaders from north and south: »Not next year, but in two or three years«(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zei­tung, 20 November 2006). And he has already followed up his words with deeds. On the evening before the meeting of Finance Ministers in February 2007 Steinbrück invited, within the framework of the German G8 presidency, the finance ministers of Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa to Essen for a discussion with their colleagues. In addition, he held bilateral talks with the Chinese representative Jin Renqing. And Steinbrück again made it clear that central global problems could only be dealt with by means of institutionalized cooperation with the rising pow­ers. And Steinbrück is not alone in his opinions: the idea is increasingly gaining acceptance among the industrialized countries that the current ipg 2/2007 Fues, Global Governance Beyond the G8 11