As the leaders of the world’s biggest powers gather for a Group of 20 summit, their South Korean hosts talk hopefully of the organisation as a “steering committee of the world”. But there are so many different hands grabbing for the steering wheel that the G20 will be lucky to survive without a serious accident.
In the immediate aftermath of the fall of Lehman Brothers, the world’s leaders pulled together. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France even enthused: “The G20 foreshadows the planetary governance of the 21st century.”
These days, however, the G20 looks more like it is foreshadowing the international conflicts of the 21st century. The central tension on most issues is between the US and China. But the world is not splitting into a pro-American and pro-Chinese camp. Instead, there are now seven main axes that divide the world.