ABSTRACT
The G8 Heiligendamm Summit was an interesting reversal of roles for Germany and Canada. When Germany initially took over the G8 presidency it appeared that the government of Angela Merkel would take a narrow back-to-basics approach to the summit and focus on core economic issues, shifting away from the attention given at previous summits to global issues, most notably poverty, climate change and pandemics (Morgan 2006). In actuality, the reverse was the case. There was a gradual downplaying of the original focus on hedge funds and currency imbalances and a return to the same expansive social agenda that dominated previous summits, particularly the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
