ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the US needs the G8 more than ever. It reviews the history of the G8 summit and evaluates the question of legitimacy of the G8. The chapter discusses why the US needs the 08 as well as the importance of the G8 in globalising world. It discusses some proposals to change the 08 to a G2 or leaders-level G20. The founders of the world economic summit deliberately refrained from institutionalising the meetings in order to avoid the bureaucracy of annual meetings and in order to maintain the informal character of the meetings. In the 1970s, the main purpose of the summit was to co-ordinate the economic and monetary policies of the major industrialised states. In the 1970s when the annual summit was established, the Cold War dominated international relations and world politics. The chapter concludes by arguing that the United States needs the G8 very much—as do all the other G8 countries.
