Introduction

The Group of Eight (G8) is an informal transgovernmental forum of what are usually characterised as the major industrial democracies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. This global governance mechanism has its origins in 1973 with meetings of the Group of Five (G5) finance ministers from France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA. Two years later the heads of state or government of these countries, plus Italy, held a first summit meeting at Rambouillet in France. Canada joined the club in 1976 to form the Group of Seven (G7). The European Union has participated – though not as a member state – since 1977. In 1998 Russia's full membership created the G8. More recently the leaders of five other major regional states (Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa) have joined parts of the summit proceedings in what has been termed the ‘G8+5’. In 2007 the ‘+5’ were renamed the ‘Outreach 5’ (‘O5’), and in 2008 the group formed the ‘G5’, which held its own meeting and issued a separate political declaration.

Despite huge publicity surrounding the G8 summits, this major institution of global governance remains relatively little understood outside specialist circles. In particular, the crucial issue of G8 accountability – especially its democratic accountability – has received scant attention.