The recent G8 summit in Northern Ireland has certainly not made history. In that, it was no different from the group’s 38 previous summits. Essentially, these are just informal gatherings of the leaders of the West, mainly to discuss—but never to decide—the state and direction of the global economy. Prestigious as it is, the G8 is not the world government. It should not be judged for what it is not.
The G8 is still relevant primarily because it represents all the leading nations of North America, Europe, and Japan. With just one caveat, this is the most homogenous group of countries in today’s world, sharing basic values as well as strategic interests. They are all U.S. allies, and willingly support U.S. leadership. Such a degree of cohesion is a tremendous asset.
The odd man out in the group is, of course, Russia. The G8 stands as a monument to unfulfilled promises and expectations of Russia’s integration into the West and its transformation along Western standards. By now, all this is history which cannot be undone. An oil-and-gas dependent, authoritarian Russia which rejects U.S. leadership and sees the United States more as a competitor and even an adversary cuts against the very nature of the group of “like-minded industrial democracies.”
Expelling Russia and reverting to the “neat” G7 format, however, is hardly practical: it will create more problems than it would try to solve. Instead, Western nations should focus on strengthening their own cooperation in the face of growing challenges to residual Western domination of the world. The formal launch of the dialogue on the Transatlantic and Transpacific free-trade areas is a sign that the United States and other Western leaders realize this. There are many other useful things that the G7 can do within the framework of the G8 and which Russia will not and cannot block.
As for Russia’s presence in the group, it is often useful to have a contrarian who would question the others’ basic assumptions and offer a wholly different worldview. By putting Western ideas and proposals to a harsh test, Russia is serving a useful function—if its partners are interested in having a second opinion before taking up major responsibility. Ideally, Russia would be even more valuable if it managed to function as a global mediator—belonging to all main groups, but to none exclusively, and seeing its goal in moderating international tension and fostering global understanding. Unfortunately, as things stand today, this is a mission impossible.