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The Editorial 12-12-2022 Same Sex Marriages and their Legalization

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
12 Dec, 2022

Theme :  Bilateral, regional and global grouping and agreements involving India or affecting India’s interests.

Paper:GS - 2

TABLE OF CONTENT 

  1. Context
  2. G-20
  3. How does the G-20 work?
  4. Why is the G-20 a better Alternative?
  5. G-20 as a Political Organization
  6. Major Issues addressed by the G-20
  7. Strengths of G-20
  8. Challenges faced by G-20
  9. India’s Role in Global Stability

Context : India looks forward to a  G-20 Presidency of healing, harmony and hope.The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies.The Legitimization of the G-20 as a global arbiter in International Affairs will create a Multilateral Instrument where all Members are Equal.

 

G-20 : 

  • The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
  • The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, Together, the G20 members represent more than 80% of world GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world population.
  • The G20 Presidency rotates annually: according to a system that ensures a regional balance over time.
  • For the selection of the presidency: 19 countries are divided into 5 groups, each having no more than 4 countries.The presidency rotates between each group.
  • Every year the G20 selects a country from another group to be president.India is in Group 2 which also has Russia, South Africa, and Turkey.
  • The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters.

How does the G-20 work?

  • The work of G20 is divided into two tracks:
  • The finance track comprises all meetings with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and their deputies. Meeting several times throughout the year they focus on monetary and fiscal issues, financial regulations, etc.
  • The Sherpa track focuses on broader issues such as political engagement, anti-corruption, development, energy, etc.Each G20 country is represented by its Sherpa; who plans, guides, implements, etc. on behalf of the leader of their respective country. (Indian Sherpa, at the G20 in Argentina, 2018 was Shri Shaktikanta Das)

Why is the G-20 a better Alternative?

  • The world is looking for an alternative to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC): which has been paralysed by the veto.
  • Credibility of UNSC: COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UNSC’s credibility hit rock bottom.
  • The expansion of its permanent membership of UNSC: It will be strongly resisted by the permanent members and a large majority of the General Assembly.
  • The composition of the G20 resembles an expanded Security Council which represents all the significant countries of the 21st century and is balanced between developed and developing countries.

G-20 as a Political Organization : 

  • The G20 is the premier forum for international economic cooperation which plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
  • A gradual transformation of the G-20 from an economic body to a political body can be initiated on the basis of the Bali Declaration, which constitutes the consensus in the group on the Russia-Ukraine war.
  • If the G-20 emerges as a peacemaker in Europe, it will attain legitimacy as a group to promote international peace and security.
  • A very significant difference between UNSC and G20 will be the absence of a veto.
  • The absence of the veto will result in pushing for a solution which is acceptable.
  • This will address the grave danger of a permanent member waging a war and vetoing every resolution against it.

Major Issues addressed by the G-20 : 

  • The G20 focuses on a broad agenda of issues of global importance, although, issues pertaining to the global economy dominate the agenda, additional items have become more important in recent years, like:
  • Financial markets
  • Tax and fiscal policy
  • Trade
  • Agriculture
  • Employment
  • Energy
  • Fight against corruption
  • Advancement of women in job market
  • 2030 agenda for Sustainable development
  • Climate Change
  • Global Health
  • Anti-terrorism
  • Inclusive entrepreneurship

Strengths of G-20 : 

  • Flexible: With only 20 members, the G20 is agile enough to make prompt decisions and to adapt to new challenges.
  • Inclusive: The inclusion every year of invited countries, international organizations and civil society organizations through engagement groups allow for a broader and more comprehensive perspective when assessing global challenges and building consensus to address them.
  • Coordinated action: The G-20 has also played a crucial role in strengthening the international financial regulatory system, including better coordination across countries.
  • Facilitated an increase in lending from multilateral development banks of US$235 billion at a time when private sector sources of finance were diminished.
  • Major achievements of the G20 include quick deployment of emergency funding during the 2008 global financial crisis.
  • It also works for reforms in international financial institutions by improving oversight of national financial institutions. Such as G20 driven reforms to the international tax system, through the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project and implementation of tax transparency standards.
  • The G20 played a critical role in the ratification of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, with the WTO estimating it could contribute up to somewhere between 5.4 and 8.7% to global GDP by 2030 if the agreement were fully implemented.
  • Better Communication: G20 brings World’s top developed and developing countries together to bring consensus and reasoning into decision making through discussion.

Challenges faced by G-20 : 

  • No Enforcement mechanism: The G20’s toolkit ranges from simple exchanges of information and best practices to agreeing common, measurable targets, to coordinated action. None of this is achieved without consensus, nor is it enforceable, except for the incentive of peer review and public accountability.
  • Not legally binding: the decisions are based on discussions and consensus which culminates in the form of declarations. These declarations are not legally binding. It’s just an advisory or consultative group of 20 members.
  • Polarization of Interests:
  • Russian and Ukrainian Presidents are invited to the G20 Summit to be held in November, 2022.The U.S. has already demanded to not invite the Russian President, otherwise U.S. and European countries would boycott his address.
  • China’s strategic rise, NATO’s expansion and Russia’s territorial aggression in Georgia and Crimea and now Russia Ukraine Conflict in 2022 changed global priorities.
  • Globalization is no longer a cool word, and multilateral organizations have a credibility crisis as countries around the world pick being ‘G-zero’ (a term coined by political commentator Ian Bremmer to denote ‘Every Nation for Itself’) over the G-7, G-20, BRICS, P-5 (UNSC Permanent Members) and others.

India’s Role in Global Stability : 

  • Strong positions on decolonisation and rights of the developing countries to play a role as a leader of the non-aligned world.
  • India was the author of several landmark resolutions of the UNSC on the question of Palestine and administered the healing touch whenever confrontation developed in multilateral fora.
  • India prevented the expulsion of Egypt from the Non-Aligned Movement at the Havana summit when the Arabs turned against Egypt.
  • As the President of G20, India shall highlight the Bali Declaration and present a road map during the preparatory process for the G-20 and persuade the sherpas to take it on its agenda.
  • This will enhance India’s capacity to deal with the crisis in a formal way within the G-20.
  • It will also accomplish India’s ultimate goal of securing the reform of the UNSC.

FAQs : 

  1. What is G-20 ?

ANS.

  • The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

  • The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, Together, the G20 members represent more than 80% of world GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world population.

  1. How does the G-20 work ?

ANS. The work of G20 is divided into two tracks:

  • The finance track comprises all meetings with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and their deputies. Meeting several times throughout the year they focus on monetary and fiscal issues, financial regulations, etc.
  • The Sherpa track focuses on broader issues such as political engagement, anti-corruption, development, energy, etc.Each G20 country is represented by its Sherpa; who plans, guides, implements, etc. on behalf of the leader of their respective country. (Indian Sherpa, at the G20 in Argentina, 2018 was Shri Shaktikanta Das)