Summit results II: Heiligendamm process – Small step but no substitute for global governance reform

The Heiligendamm process, for which the German government received the approval of it G8 partners — is a small step, but certainly no substitute for a democratic reform of the global governance system. Furthermore according to the world economic declaration, the G8 are to maintain a „new partnership“, a „new form of detailed cooperation“ and above all a “new form of topic-driven dialogue” in the next two years with the so-called Outreach 5 countries (O5), China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico. The German government proposed the OECD as platform – limited to the next two years. The OECD was originally greeted with scepticism, then finally accepted, once it was assured that it only pertained to “technical facilities”.

The topics of this Heiligendamm process are exclusively those that interest the North, resp. the G8: innovation and patent protection, freedom of investment, common responsibility for Africa (this conceals the intention of dragging the O5 into the OECD as donors) and finally the issue of who will contribute how much to reduction of CO2 emissions. Just before Heiligendamm, the O5 countries issued various signals that they wanted to improve co-ordination among each other in terms of stronger South-South co-ordination. However, it is currently unclear what the specific interest of the O5 in the new co-operation with the G8 is. Nonetheless it is remarkable that the joint declaration by the G8 Presidency and O5 is far more moderated in tone than the G8 original.

For the German government, the O5 approach was the “compromise” between the status quo and the earnest attempt to expand the G8 or even to replace it with a truly representative body. However, not only the „G8 partners“ — even the chancellor herself — wanted to maintain the anachronistic G8 construction. The arguments given miss the point (either that it is just a “small intimate circle” or that the G8 represents a “community of values" worth preserving). This is just a crutch that has been employed; a placebo that is miles from the global governance reform that belongs on the agenda.