Excerpt

The G20 leaders' format appears to be an ascendant form of summitry. Acting as an economic crisis committee, the G20 has served an important symbolic function, sending a clear message that leaders of an extended group of states across the North-South divide recognize the gravity of the fallout from the financial shocks. It also provides significant instrumental value with its extended plan of action in a host of technical areas. Viewed through this positive lens, it is easy to suggest that the G20 summit constitutes a mechanism ready to seize the moment, turning a structural dilemma into institutional innovation and creative initiatives. The initial November 2008 meeting in Washington, the momentum built through the second gathering in London in early-April 2009, and the announcement of a third session in Pittsburgh in late-September 2009, have sent a sharp message that world leaders prefer hanging together through collective efforts than hanging separately through instinctive but short-sighted unilateral efforts.