The spread of informal governance practices in G-summitry

This article examines the spread of informal practices from the G7 to the G20, analysing the implications of the G20’s adoption of six practices that have marked the G7 as a quintessential informal governance group. Drawing on archival documents, elite interviews, and embedded participant observation, the argument is made that the practices that are strengths of the G7 are liabilities for the G20. Key practices that have been central to the G7’s success do not entail success in G20. Furthermore, the practices that transpose well into the G20 context are those that have less to do with the way the members relate to one another within the club and more to do with how its members are positioned within the international system overall. These findings add complexity to the proposition that informal governance institutions like the G20 can serve as effective means to channel rising states’ status concerns.