The G20 ministers ended their meetings yesterday proclaiming consensus and pledging to cooperate in solving the financial crisis. This, despite their being very little consensus among the G20 leaders on what policies to take and no agreement being reached that will have meaningful policy impact.
As I note in my New Atlanticist roundup essay “G20 Leaders Proclaim Consensus Without Achieving It,”
While the crisis is months old and one might think the leaders of the world’s most powerful economies would have come closer to figuring out how to respond by now, that fact of the matter is that there’s no consensus within most of these countries, let alone among them. The issues are incredibly complex and for the most part unprecedented. We’re traveling in uncharted waters here. Add to that different political cultures, the disparate impact of the crisis, and all the other issues that typically make international agreement next to impossible even when the stakes are much lower, no one should be surprised.
Much more at the link.
Reuters Photo.
