ABSTRACT
With the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, Japan reacted positively to President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s invitation to attend the inaugural G7 summit in 1975. Since its first meeting at Rambouillet in France in November 1975 to discuss economic policy in light of the Nixon shocks of August 1971 and the oil shock of 1973, the G7 system has undergone a considerable transformation (see Appendix 21.1). Of greatest significance has been the expansion in both the number of participants, from five members to eight, and the remit of its concerns-originally purely economic, but now embracing the security dimension of international relations. The original six (the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan) metamorphosed rapidly into the G7 with the addition of Canada in 1987. From 1998 Russia was included officially as a member of the G8. Japan was excluded from much of the institutional machinery for global policy coordination up until the creation of the G7, a situation which continues to some extent even today, especially in the security dimension. Notwithstanding this, however, Japan has become a central member of the G7 system, and is now recognized within the international system created by the early-starter economies. As a result, the issues of voting rights and representation within the G7 have not been so problematic in comparison to Japan’s participation in other global institutions (see Chapters 19 and 20). In fact, the G7 has taken on a special significance for Japan.
