Talk Synopsis
The G20, an informal yet systemically significant platform, has demonstrated resilience and adaptability in producing global public goods, despite intensifying geopolitical tensions and domestic political disruptions. Its membership comprises an intriguing combination of states with complex and often distrustful relationships among their leaders. While many initiatives brought to the G20 by a variety of initiators have not survived the gauntlet of consensus-based decision-making, numerous meaningful collective decisions have been successful. The G20’s ability to deliver positive outcomes—not only when cooperation is expected to fail but also when the platform itself is anticipated to collapse or lose relevance—challenges conventional expectations of global governance in an era marked by great power rivalries and systemic fragmentation. In recent years, Indonesia, India and Brazil have shown remarkable interest in the G20. How should we understand the resilience of the G20 and the recent impact of Global South Leaders? In this talk, Professor Yves Tiberghien focuses on the strategies of policy entrepreneurs in the G20 and highlights the underexplored role of leadership and agency in shaping global cooperation. He identifies the strategies policy entrepreneurs have used to advance their innovation agendas within the G20. The talk presents new coded data on G20 performance over 20 years and focuses on the last three G20 summits and the roles played by Indonesia, India, and Brazil.
Speaker’s Profile
Yves Tiberghien is a Professor of Political Science and Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia. He is also the Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research and Director of the Center for Japanese Research at UBC. Yves is a Visiting Professor at the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science (National Tsinghua University, Taiwan) and an adjunct Chair Professor, International Doctoral Program in Asia-Pacific Studies (IDAS), National Chengchi University in Taipei. Yves is an International Steering Committee Member at Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD) and a visiting professor at Sciences Po Paris. In November 2017, he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre national du mérite by the French President. Professor Tiberghien’s research focuses on the comparative political economy of East Asia and on global economic and environmental governance. His latest book is The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox (Cambridge 2021), to be soon followed by a second one, titled East Asia’s COVID Responses: Long-Term Lessons. His previous books include Entrepreneurial States: Reforming Corporate Governance in France, Japan, and Korea (2007, Cornell University Press); L’Asie et le futur du monde (2012, Paris: Science Po Press); and Leadership in Global Institution-Building: Minerva’s Rule (2013, edited volume, Palgrave McMillan). Dr. Tiberghien co-founded the Vision 20 initiative in 2015, a new coalition of global scholars and policy-makers aiming at providing a long-term perspective on the challenges of global economic and environmental governance.