Future of the G20: Minimalism or Global Mandate?

The G20 was born as a crisis-response forum but has since expanded into a sprawling ecosystem of working groups covering everything from climate change and development finance to health and digital policy. Now, some voices – most notably from Washington – argue that the forum has drifted too far from its core purpose. The proposal: strip the G20 back to its original two tracks – financial and leaders – so that it can deliver sharper, faster coordination on trade, fiscal, monetary, and financial policy, especially in times of crisis. But would narrowing the agenda strengthen the G20’s effectiveness, or hollow it out? Much of the group’s progress has come not from grand political bargains but from cooperation on less contentious issues. At the same time, the G20 has sometimes been less effective in managing thorny geopolitical disputes. A leaner mandate could make the forum nimbler, but may also sideline issues critical to the Global South – from just transitions to equitable growth – that have finally found space on the G20 table. Which path should the Group of Twenty move towards?

Would narrowing the mandate to finance and leadership tracks make the G20 more impactful in an economic crisis and facilitate much-needed dispute resolution?

If the G20 narrows its mandate, what specific gaps in global governance would be left unaddressed, and who would fill them?

Will the G20 find new energy and new direction or will the US presidency temper its ambition?

Speakers:

Alexander Sergunin, Professor of IR at St. Petersburg State University and Higher School of Economics, Russian Federation

Philani Mthembu, Executive Director, Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD), South Africa

Moderator:

Shubh Soni, Head, Partnerships and Administration, Observer Research Foundation, India

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