ABSTRACT
Since its start in 1975, the G7 summit has repeatedly confronted surges in anti-globalization sentiment within and beyond its members. In the 1970s, simultaneous slow growth and high inflation produced paralysis in the Tokyo Round of multilateral trade negotiations and a crisis of confidence in democratic governance. This accompanied the birth of G7 summit governance, with the European Union added, contributing to the successful conclusion of the Tokyo Round by 1979. In the 1980s, a deep recession fuelled the election of Ronald Reagan in the U.S. and François Mitterrand in France; despite deep divisions between them, they fostered the launch of the Uruguay Round in 1986 and the triumph of G7-led Cold War victory and democratic revolution in 1989. In the 1990s, G7 summits faced increasingly violent protests and pervasive popular discontent, culminating with the ‘battle of Seattle’ at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting. The following decade brought new assaults from global terrorism on 11 September 2001, and the global financial crisis erupting on 15 September 2008. The current decade has brought more challenges, most notably climate change. But the G7 has coped well thus far and probably will continue to do so in the years to come.
