8 I LSE Magazine I Winter 2003 I I Winter 2003 I LSE Magazine I 9

EVIAN: WATER ON THE FLAMES

Evian: wateron the flames

Welcome reconciliation but weak resultsNicholas Bayne

President Jacques Chirac had high ambitions for the G8 summit he would host at Evian, on theshores of Lake Geneva, in June 2003. But the war in Iraq divided the G8 right down the middle.The United States, the United Kingdom, Japan andItaly opposed France, Germany, Russia andCanada. Even the European G8 members weredivided and found themselves on opposite sides to each other. The summit, however, provided theopportunity for reconciliation which everyone need-ed. Though the leaders had disagreed over the war,they could come together over the need to restorepeace in Iraq. After initial contacts between Bushand Putin in St Petersburg, the Evian summitrestored visible good relations between Bush andChirac and Bush and Schröder. Evian showed thevalue of the close personal contacts provided by theG8 summit process.

But the leaders did not reinforce their reconcilia-tion with innovative and durable agreements on therest of their long agenda. Evian adopted a recordvolume of action plans, prepared by officials, but theinput from heads of government seemed insubstan-tial. Chirac’s ambitions on clean water, like Bush’sinitiatives on AIDS and famine, did not lead to anyclear collective undertakings. Even on action againstterrorism, where the others looked to a lead from theUnited States, the mass of documents containedfew new commitments.

Evian showed that the leaders could still agreeamong themselves – which was a great relief.They still supported the concept of collectivemanagement that underlies the G8 summit. Buttheir agreements, though copious, seemed weakin quality. Chrétien of Canada said the best thingabout Evian was: ‘It was a good meeting – it couldhave been a disaster!’

The challenges of Evian Heidi Ullrich

Chirac outlined responsibility, democracy, solidari-ty and security as the four broad themes of the Evian summit. However, Bush arrived in Evianwith challenges for the other G8 members includ-ing making progress in the war on terror. The G8agreed to several US-driven initiatives includingthe establishment of a Counter Terrorism ActionGroup, and action plans to secure civil aviationand the control of portable air defence systems aswell as to prevent the proliferation of weapons ofmass destruction. Other challenges includedmatching the US five year $15 billion EmergencyFund for AIDS, the $1 billion annual contribution of the US to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria as well as the $200 million emergency famine fund the US has established.

Despite their host of statements and action plansintended to show solidarity, the G8 leaders wereweakest where they needed to be strongest: in thecritically important area of strengthening the globaleconomy. At Evian, the leaders of the G8 managedto produce only a general statement on trade thatfailed to offer the direction, political will, or personalcommitment necessary to ensure progress in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. Thecollapse of the WTO’s Fifth Ministerial in Cancún,Mexico in September which derailed the DohaDevelopment Agenda, can be in large part attributedto the inability of the leaders of eight of the largestdeveloped countries to provide the necessary leadership prior to this critical meeting.

To further his vision of a multi-polar world, Chiracheld the largest outreach meeting in the history of the G8 at which leaders of the G8 were joined by those of 11 developing countries and ofSwitzerland, as well as the heads of the InternationalMonetary Fund, the World Bank and the WorldTrade Organisation. This expanded dialogue was a welcomed innovation. Whether Bush in 2004 heedsChirac’s call to make it a regular part of the G8remains to be seen.

G8 summit in transitionShinichiro Uda

Chirac stated that the summit successfullyfacilitated, for the first time in many years, indepth discussions by G8 nations of macroeco-nomic issues, the primary reason for launchingthe summit itself in 1975. For example, whenJapanese prime minister Koizumi expressedthe intention of implementing the painful taskof economic structural reform at the 2001Genoa summit, world leaders, althoughimpressed, did no more than express theirsupport. This time, leaders of most participat-ing nations offered their full commitment tostructural reform. Chirac also referred to cor-porate global governance for the first time in asummit declaration. This was relevant giventhe recent corporate accounting scandals inthe US that have hindered the principleddevelopment of world markets.

The Evian summit was characterised by anexpansive agenda and during one sessionincluded participation of non-G8 nations andinternational organisations. Another character-istic was the distinctive path the US is pursuing,which could be described as the manifestationof Pax Americana. In 2000 Clinton was latearriving at the Okinawa summit due to activitiesrelated to the Middle East peace process. Thistime Bush cut short his visit to Evian to host theinternational conference in Egypt with Israeliand Palestinian leaders.

The G8 summit should be deemed as a confer-ence of the greatest significance for globalgovernance. However, the future of the G8 relieson whether the leaders can find an effective wayof expanding the summit, and whether they canachieve increased coordination between the USand other member states.

As long as G8 members can show a unifiedapproach towards the challenges of worldaffairs, the forum will continue to have interna-tional influence. Such influence is visiblethrough gaining the support of organisationssuch as the United Nations, which serves toincrease the element of justice in the process ofglobalisation. If G8 members can recover theirsolid alliance by the time of the Sea Island sum-mit in the US in 2004, the influence of the G8 willbe strengthened. In this sense, their approachtowards the UN resolution proposed by the USon governing Iraq in the autumn of 2003 willhave been a vital turning point.

Conclusions and the way forward

It is clear that G8 members are back on coursein pursuing their goal of collective managementof the international system, in both economicand political issues. Although the immediateimpact was muffled by the great mass of documentation, the main achievement of Evianwas that it signalled the start of healing divisions caused by the differences of the leaders on the issue of Iraq. In the months

following the summit, G8 leaders continued tomake concerted efforts to work closer onpolitical issues, such as Iraq, Iran, and NorthKorea as well as the global economy. Bush has kept up his personal links with Chirac,Schröder and Putin, despite persistent differences over Iraq.

Bush will host the 2004 summit in an electionyear. His desire to shine as a world leader willbe subject to severe political constraints. Hehas not only to win over his G8 partners; theadvance of globalisation will make it impossiblefor the summit to maintain its closed circle.Future summits must engage constructivelywith other major players including key develop-ing countries and civil society representatives.Without such expanded dialogue to reflectchanging global realities, the G8 could likely beswept away in the current of world events. ■

Nicholas Bayne is a fellow of the International Trade Policy Unit of LSE and has written two bookson the G7 and G8 summits. Heidi Ullrich (PhDGovernment 2002) is a visiting lecturer in LSE’sGovernment Department. She has written on the role of the G7 and G8 in providing leadership in tradeand increasing its accountability. Shinichiro Uda ispresident of the LSE International Social EconomicForum in Japan. He has written on globalisation andthe role of the G8 summits. © Nicholas Bayne, HeidiUllrich and Shinichiro Uda, 2003

US president George Bush hosts the next G8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, in June 2004, with the United Kingdom

taking its turn in 2005. What was accomplished in Evian, France,this year? Nicholas Bayne, Heidi Ullrich and Shinichiro Uda

have different assessments of what the summit did and didn’tachieve and what the 2004 summit could tackle.

EVIAN: WATER ON THE FLAMES

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