ABSTRACT
The post-American world arrived with a shock within America itself in the autumn of 2008. On September 15 in New York City, Lehman Brothers collapsed, catalyzing a global financial and economic crisis, unprecedented in its global scale, speed, and scope. A mere two months later, on November 14–15 in Washington, DC, President George W. Bush hosted the first of a series of summits of the decade-old Group of 20 (G20) systemically significant states to cope with this home-made crisis that America alone could not control. The second G20 summit was soon held, on April 1–2, 2009, but now in London, with Britain's Gordon Brown as host. 1 President Barack Obama hosted the third on September 24–25, 2009 in Pittsburgh. There he proclaimed that the G20 would now serve as the permanent, premier forum for the world. The first test of this new mission came at its fourth summit, on June 26–27, 2010, in Toronto, with Canada in the chair.
