External publications

Democratic participation and the populist challenge to global governance

Hilbrich, Sören
External Publications (2021)

published on blogs.die-gdi.de, 04.11.2021

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This year’s G20 summit took place this weekend in Rome and – as it is always the case when the G20 meets in a country where protests are not suppressed – thousands of protestors used this occasion to express their opposition to the supposedly neoliberal agenda of the G20 and the human rights violations perpetrated by some of the member governments (although Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping as important addressees of this second criticism did not even bother to come to Rome). This year, the meagre results of the group with respect to climate action and the failure to ensure a fair global allocation of Covid-19 vaccines were among the key complains concerning the content of the agreements of the group. However, the G20 was not only criticized for the substance of its policies. It has always also faced contestation with respect to the way in which the group takes political decisions in procedures that do not allow for much democratic participation and public control.