The G8 and the G20: Rejuvenated by the Crisis

In recent years, G8 summits have increasingly lost their appeal both to their participants and to the media. Only young protestors seem to believe that important decisions are taken there, and that it is therefore necessary to try to disrupt them. Media reports cover the meetings routinely, while concentrating on the numbers and forms of the protests and on police reactions to them. G8 summits have tended increasingly to be—and to be considered as—‘non-events’. The question has been not if, but how long they can survive.