ABSTRACT
The 2017 G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, highlighted both the resilience of this forum and the current challenges faced by multilateralism. This introductory chapter outlines the role, strengths and weaknesses of the G7, particularly in the context of a growing and evolving anti-globalism. It highlights how each contribution to this volume addresses a key dimension of the debate over the outlook for global governance, within and beyond the G7. It provides an overview of the functioning and evolution of the G7, the legitimacy issues it raises, its effectiveness and the complex interplay between these two dimensions. It then assesses the contestation of the G7 and today’s new kind of anti-globalism. Finally, it addresses economic nationalism and its broader implications in pushing towards global deregulation and fragmentation and the role the G7 might play here.
