Waterloo, Canada – Despite the euro zone debt crisis taking centre stage at the recent Cannes G20 Summit, leaders and the national media in their respective capitals were, nonetheless, able to focus on several other G20 issues of vital interest to their publics, a new report concludes.
Outlined in a joint report from The Brookings Institution and The Centre for International Governance Innovation, these issues included the financial transactions tax proposal, the G20’s work on tax havens, which began in London in 2009, and the strong focus on development put forth by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The report is the sixth in the National Perspectives on Global Leadership (NPGL) Sounding Series, in which global governance experts from G20 capitals survey the national media coverage of G20 summits to gauge the overall focus and tenor of the discussion. Coverage from the 13 G20 countries surveyed for the NPGL’s Cannes report suggests that all but Argentina found that the euro crisis to a significant degree “hijacked” or “sidetracked” the Cannes summit, which ran from November 4-5, 2011. Despite this, the sounding shows that the other G20 issues did receive attention both from the national leaders and from worldwide media.
The NPGL’s Cannes report also examined the profile of the G20 in the various capitals, noting it was “strikingly more visible in many capitals,” particularly Beijing, where it was noted that “China’s media have begun to pay more attention to the G20 than in the past.” But serious questions were raised in Mexico and Korea, host of the 2010 Seoul Summit, “especially about the future of G20 summits.”
To read the NPGL’s Cannes report online or access a free PDF download, visit http://www.cigionline.org/publications/2011/11/national-perspectives-global-leadership.
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The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) is an independent, non-partisan think tank on international governance. Led by experienced practitioners and distinguished academics, CIGI supports research, forms networks, advances policy debate and generates ideas for multilateral governance improvements. Conducting an active agenda of research, events and publications, CIGI’s interdisciplinary work includes collaboration with policy, business and academic communities around the world. CIGI was founded in 2001 by Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM), and collaborates with and gratefully acknowledges support from a number of strategic partners, in particular the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. For more information, please visit www.cigionline.org.