G20 Economic Meet Gives Clue For For The Future
By Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava
11 September, 2013
Countercurrents.org
The G20 meet was not expected to deliver any viable solution to the world problems, and it moved in this direction without any obstruction. G 20 was established with the aim of resolving the global economic problems with the synergistic efforts of the developed, developing countries including the emerging economies.
The declaration adopted at the St. Petersburg have brought nothing new in the domain of the global economy. It emphasized the old points which have consistently plagued the global economy. The emphasis was on the strengthening growth and creating jobs, generate higher growth and better jobs, ensuring fiscal sustainability. Importance of long-term financing for investment was also recognized. Emphasis was also placed on SMEs to boost economic growth. The role of the coordinated and integrated public policies was thought to be crucial for the global economic recovery. The meet also paid attention to the issue of cross-border tax evasion, role and importance of strong multilateral trading system. As a universal problem, the corruption was also given importance by the world leaders who decided to include the G20 Anti-Corruption Action in the declaration.
Many of these are not recent problems as these have been talked about in persistent manner since the inception of the G 20 but so far no suitable and precise solution have been obtained. Perhaps it is due to the fact that developed economies have not reconciled their interests with the developing countries. The whole world seems to have reached to a conclusion, albeit false that panacea of the global economic problems lie in the free market economy and globalization by the developing world. The developing countries are aware that they too have no perfect solution to their economic woes hence they have been forced to follow the tune of the developed countries particularly after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In fact the closer analysis will reveal that the contemporary global economic problem have emerged from the western world due to their excessive consumerism not supported by the genuine economic efforts and proper functioning of the their economic institutions. The austerity measures suggest that present capitalist order needs reform in comprehensive manner.The G 20 seems to have overlooked this fundamental problem of the world economy. It has talked about the recipes without diagnosing the disease.
One more adverse trend in the conference was that the whole meet was converted into a diplomatic discussion table where the question of Syria had assumed the prominence. There is no gainsaying the fact that USA is committed to dislodge the Assad’s regime by any means. US foreign policy has a wider plan to replace the regime but dynamics of the global politics have prevented it to move in this direction. There are many reasons behind it, primarily there is no legal basis to carry on attack on Syria by the USA, UNO permission is not available and the allies of the USA are in a state of confusion. UK, the strongest small brother-supporter of USA in any of the global venture has shown its reluctance to participate in the attack. This has put break on the US rapid decision making process on the issue.
The second one is role played by China and Russia. They have almost prevented USA from taking any strong step against the Syrian regime. This signals the importance of these countries in the newly emerging world order where so far the USA has exhibited its monopoly in tackling the global issue according to its national interests. This is a sea change in the global scenario and its impact will be felt in the years to come. This also suggests that a sort of new cold war may emerge. This may alter the whole world in to new direction. Its reflection are visible where Obama appears to have been thinking in finding out the other avenues for the resolution of the problem, as there are proposals that Syria should disband its chemical weapons, an activity in which the role of Russia has become quite crucial which is playing a crucial role in saving the Assad’s regime. The G 20 meet has clearly exhibited that global politics may not remain a sole management task of the USA. Many others are also trying to play important role.
Lastly US President Obama himself is responsible for delayed action on Syria. He is caught between his own preferences for the peaceful world and the US interests but he will be forced to take care of US interests at the end. Though it is always difficult to assess the exact end point.
These all developments have taken place during and after the G20 summit. Therefore this meet is departure point for the global politics. It has brought into focus those elements of the world politics which are likely to express in the days and years to come. It has also suggested that there is no global model to resolve the global economic problems. It has only followed the old sayings which have been related to growth stimulus, job creation etc., but how these can be realized in the sustained and everlasting manner have not been elaborated. It seems that world leaders are themselves are bereft of any novel ideas to deal with the economic woes. They seem to have given more importance to the political problems rather than the economic ones. Hence the main purpose of the G20 appears to have been defeated. This is a serious trend particularly for the emerging economies and other developing countries. They need to critically examine the trends , hidden lessons and the emerging future projections from this meet. This will do a lot of good for them otherwise such meetings will not help to mitigate their bitter problems in which they have been trapped for known or unknown reasons.
Dr. Vivek Kumar Srivastava has twenty years University level teaching experience, presently Assistant Professor in CSJM Kanpur University[affiliated college],Vice Chairman CSSP, Kanpur a think tank and educational hub for deprived section of society, have presented papers in Chile, Australia, Finland, South Korea, Sweden etc., regular contributor to Mainstream Weekly, have been published in Dainik Jagran, AJ newspaper. Email: [email protected]
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