Summit Dialogue Podcast Series

We are just entering the ‘Summit Season’ and I thought I would kick off the Season with a conversation with Paola Subacchi on the question of the Italian G20 Leaders’ Summit. Paola has been involved in G20 summits going back some years. And she has links to those organizing the Italian Rome Summit that will occur possibly in person in the fall.

Paola is a Professor of International Economics and Chair Advisory Board at the Global Policy Institute at Queen Mary, University of London, and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna. Previously, she was Director of International Economics Research at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) for over ten years. She is the founder and director of Essential Economics, an independent economic research service. She writes widely about global financial issues and her most recent book from Yale University Press is The Cost of Free Money (2020).

Let’s join Paola in the virtual studio to discuss the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

Summit Dialogue: Ep. 20: An Interview with Paola Subacchi on the upcoming Italian G20 Summit

In this second podcast in the Global Summitry podcast series, Stewart Patrick of the Council of Foreign Relations examines the evolution of multilateralism in the global order.This podcast is part of Stewart's 'Feature Article' "The New “New Multilateralism”: Minilateral Cooperation, but at What Cost?" As the title suggests multilateralism as a global order tool has gone through a succession of iterations. The most recent iteration is the development of informal minilateral arrangements. As Stewart points out, these new collaborative arrangements are not unalloyed improvements for global order collaboration.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 2: Stewart Patrick on "The New 'New Multilateralism'"

This podcast interview with the Right Honorable Paul Martin, interviewer Alan Alexandroff, a Senior Editor here at Global Summitry, is the embedded podcast accompanying Mr. Martin’s video text.  This video was delivered at the opening of the Vision 20 meeting in China (March 29th to April 1st) at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China.  As the Editor’s Note in the text points out, the V20 brought together scholars from various international policy fields, think tank leaders, civil society and private sector representatives and various government leaders, all to generate ideas and actionable items for the long and medium term in global governance. 

Paul Martin was the Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 to 2006 and the Minister of Finance from 1993 to 2002.  Mr. Martin was the inaugural chair of the Finance Ministers’ G20. Mr. Martin not only was central in setting up this first version of the G20 but was one of the earliest advocates of a leaders’ level summit – what eventually became the G20. As Mr. Martin wrote in 2005 in the venerable journal Foreign Affairs, “The main justification for an L-20 can be expressed very simply: the boundaries between countries are growing fainter. Globalization is not a process that can be turned on and off at will.” In this interview with Mr. Martin, our Senior Editor explores with the former Prime Minister his assessment of the Leaders’ G20. Where has the G20 been a success; where has it failed to meet the expectations of Mr. Martin? What recommendations does Mr. Martin have for this most critical of leaders’ summits in the hopes of making the Summit more effective?

Global Summitry Podcasts

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 1: The Right Honourable Paul Martin on a Vision for the G20

This Series undertakes interviews with academics, policymakers and in particular former officials exploring the current and past architecture of summits and the state of global order policy-making.

This podcast with Oliver Stuenkel is a full conversation exploring the hemispheric summit – the ‘Summit of the Americas’ and the regional politics of Latin America.  Recently, leaders in the Western Hemisphere met for the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima Peru. President Trump decided to avoid the Summit, the first American President to do so since this triennial meeting of leaders was inaugurated by President Bill Clinton.  In fact, less than half the leaders showed. What does this poor attendance suggest about the state of regional relations? Equally, what does the crisis in Venezuela tell us about the state of relations and hemispheric concerns about democracy? The spotlight is on Latin America.  The G20 is being hosted by the Argentinian Government.  And there are important elections in the region, most notably in Brazil. The crisis in Venezuela is unlikely to end any time soon. 

Oliver is an associate professor of international relations at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in Sao Paulo. There, with a number of his colleagues, he is launching a new School of International Relations.  Oliver has written extensively on the politics of the rising powers, including his most recent for Polity, Post-Western World: How Emerging Powers are Remaking the Global Order. He is a frequent commentator on the Hemisphere in journals and in the media across the region.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 3: Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel on the ‘Summit of the Americas’

The geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific, or the Indo-Pacific, as the Trump Administration has referred to the Asia-Pacific is a critical aspect of international politics and today’s global order. This podcast very fortunately tackles the politics of the region with one of the true experts there, Professor Mark Beeson of the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth Australia. In the podcast we have the opportunity to review the history of the ASEAN which today includes ten countries in Southeast Asia. This summit has been ongoing since 1967 and most recently ASEAN leaders gathered in Singapore for the 32nd Summit. What has the ASEAN accomplished over this summit’s existence? What are its relations with the two great powers in the region – China and the United States? Can ASEAN be an actor in the continuing tensions of the South China Sea? Beyond just the two great powers what are, and should be, ASEAN’s relations with other major players in the region, Japan, India and Australia? And what is ASEAN’s relationship with the geopolitics and geo-economics of the Trump presidency?
Mark is a Professor of International Politics at UWA and his expertise covers international relations, international political economy, Australian foreign policy, the regional politics of Asia, security interests and the economics of this vital region. Come learn more about ASEAN with Mark Beeson.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 4: Mark Beeson on ASEAN and regional politics of East and Southeast Asia

The leader-led BRICS forum has received much attention in the international relations. Initiated as an acronym in 2001 by Jim O’Neill at Goldman Sachs to capture a set of large emerging market economies with high growth potential – Brazil, Russia, India and China – Russian officials organized this group first as informal gatherings of the Foreign Ministers and then in 2009 the first leaders’ summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Leaders’ summits have continued from that point forward. Notably in 2011 at the China Sanya Summit, South Africa was invited to join the BRICS which went from the BRICs to the BRICS. Notwithstanding much skepticism by observers over the many divergent views of this leaders forum the BRICS have continued to meet, to enhance their intra-BRICS activities from security to education and to build institutions including the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). With the able assistance of Andrew Cooper, we explore the evolution of the BRICS in global governance. We also explore where this BRICS summit may be going.

Andrew is a Professor of Political Science at Waterloo University. He has written a great deal around the ‘Rise of the Informals’ including a volume on the G20 with Ramesh Thakur (The Group of Twenty (G20), 2012), Rising States, Rising Institutions with Alan Alexandroff, eds. (2010), and more recently: BRICS: A Very Short Introduction (2016). He also has a written a great deal on modern diplomacy including The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy with Jorge Heine and Ramesh Thakur, eds. (2013), Celebrity Diplomacy (2007), and Diplomatic Alternatives (2014).

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 5: Andrew F. Cooper on the BRICS: Past, Present and Future

I sat recently to discuss the most recent BRICS Summit – the 10th anniversary summit in Johannesburg, South Africa with my colleague and friend Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel. Notwithstanding much criticism of the BRICS, especially from observers from the West, the annual BRICS summit meetings have remained a serous gathering of these emerging market country leaders. There is a growing list of meetings among BRICS officials and the BRICS have created a variety of international institutions, most notably the New Development Bank. I therefore was keen to explore with Oliver the evolution and impact of the BRICS summit on international governance.

Oliver is an associate professor of international relations at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in Sao Paulo. There, with a number of his colleagues, he is launching a new School of International Relations. Oliver has written extensively on the politics of the rising powers, including The BRICS and the Future of the Global Order and his most recent book from Polity, Post-Western World: How Emerging Powers are Remaking the Global Order. He is a frequent commentator on the Hemisphere in journals and in the media across the region.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 6: Oliver Della Costa Stuenkel on the 10th BRICS Summit in South Africa

This is an exceptional podcast in this ‘Summit Dialogue’ series. First, it is our pleasure to interview Yale’s Angel Hsu, the founder and director of Data-Driven Yale. We have corralled Angel to discuss the Global Climate Action Summit (GCAS) that was held in San Francisco from September 12-14, 2018. This summit is a notable event called by California’s Governor Jerry Brown and Michael Bloomberg. The attendees included many sub-state actors from provinces and states, municipalities and regions (some 6,000) and many, many non-state actors including foundations, activists and private corporations (some 2,000). These actors were intent in promoting efforts and commitments on carbon emission reductions at something other than at the national government level. We were also keen to question Angel on recently released report for the Summit titled, “Global Climate Action From Cities, Regions and Businesses”. This Report, led by Angel, was a three-year effort to aggregate the climate commitments by these many sub-states and non-state actors. It was also my pleasure to include in the questioning of Angel our first ‘Munk-V20-Brookings Fellow’, Claire Floody. Claire from Centennial College’s journalism program had joined us in Buenos Aires for the final T20 Argentina meeting. There we had, among other things, worked on this podcast.

Angel is an Assistant Professor of Social Science at Yale-NUS College and is also an Adjunct Professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. She has written extensively on the subject of carbon emissions reduction and on climate change policy.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 7: Angel Hsu on the Global Climate Action Summit

International Relations’ experts have come to recognize that there are many more actors in global governance today than in international relations in the past. There are states and intergovernmental institutions, of course, but today there are a variety of sub-state and non-state actors (NSAs) that are involved in meeting the growing challenges of global governance. 

It is our good fortune to have Miles Kahler, the Distinguished Professor of the School of International Service at American University, Washington D.C. with us here in the studio and in fact Miles has been with us at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy for the semester. Miles and I range widely over a number of global governance areas including climate change and the flows of illicit finance that has become a serious topic of concern for the G20 and other global governance institutions. Miles, in fact, has recently concluded a study with colleagues for the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is a Senior Fellow in Washington, titled, “Global Governance to Combat Illicit Financial Flows: Measurement, Evaluation, Innovation”. 

Before taking up his position at American University, Miles was the Rohr Professor of Pacific and International Relations and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UCSD. Miles has published widely in the fields of international politics and international political economy. Among other volumes he has co-edited with David Lake, Politics in the New Hard Times, and edited, Networked Politics: Agency, Power and Governance.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 8: Miles Kahler on “Who are the Global Governors Today?”

There has been a ‘raft’ of environmental reports and climate change summits in the very recent past.  I’ve called on Joshua Busby to discuss these summits and the reports and to give us some sense of the success in the global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Josh is an Associate Professor of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin and a Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law.  Josh has been deeply involved in the efforts to mitigate climate change. Busby is the author of several studies on climate change, national security, and energy policy from the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution, the German Marshall Fund, and CNAS. Busby is one of the lead researchers in the Strauss Center project on Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS), a $7.6 million grant funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. He is also the principal investigator of a Complex Emergencies and Political Stability in Asia (CEPSA), a 3-year $1.9 million project, also funded by the Department of Defense. He has also written on U.S.-China relations on climate change for CNAS, Resources for the Future, and the Paulson Institute.

His most recent publications include: “As the Stakes Rise, Climate Action Loses Momentum”, Current History, January, 2019, “Warming World: Why Climate Change Matters More Than Anything Else”, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2018, and with Nigel Purvis, “Climate Leadership in Uncertain Times”, The Atlantic Council, September 11, 2018.

You will find that the global efforts are rather sobering, but Josh provide a full review of, and insight into, the current climate change efforts.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 9: Joshua Busby on “Global Efforts to Limit Carbon Emissions”

It was an opportunity I could not pass up. So, I sat down to interview Julia Pomares.  Julia is the Executive Director of CIPPEC, - the Center for the Implementation of Public Policies Promoting Equity and Growth, a major think tank from Argentina.  CIPPEC, along with a sister think tank, CARI - the Argentine Council for International Relations, coordinated the think tank efforts for the Argentinian Government’s G20 hosting year. I spent some time with Julia during Argentina’s hosting year and have had the opportunity to work with Julia in the current Japanese G20 hosting. I was very interested in exploring with Julia her experiences as the co-coordinator for the Argentinian G20. What did she see as her mission and goal? 

It was a hugely eventful year with Julia and her colleagues holding many meetings with the large number of think tanks through the G20 and at the formal meetings of the T20 and G20. Julia and colleagues organized 10 Task Forces that produced over 80 policy briefs and 20 proposals for the G20. The T20 Communique was in the end 47 pages long. And yet the Leaders’ Declaration was a mere 7 pages. So, I wanted to ask her - from her experience what did she see as the relationship of the T20 and other engagement groups and the Leaders Summit. 

Many researchers see a growing disconnect between the G20 Leaders’ Summit and the T20 process. What was the view of Julia from her experience at the Argentinian T20 and G20 Leaders’ Summit and now the T20 and the Japanese G20 Summit.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 10: Julia Pomares on the Argentinian G20 and the Japanese G20

With this Ep 11 podcast we begin a series on the Japanese Osaka Summit. First up is Yves Tiberghien from the University of British Columbia. It is a great pleasure to welcome Yves back to the podcast studio. 

If nothing else this G20 Summit was filled with pageantry – principally Donald Trump’s. There is a series of Trump events – meeting with China’s Xi Jinping over the US-China trade war, and, as it turns out, an agreement to provide a truce in the tariff increases by the United States while negotiations resume, his encounters with Vladimir Putin and the breakfast with the Saudi Crown Prince and of course the meeting with Kim Jong-un at the Korean DMZ just after the completion of the Summit. 

Yves and discuss the implications of these Trump meetings, the progress on what Yves and I refer to as the top-tier issues of international trade and climate change action and then a number of mid-tier issues including: acting to limit marine plastics litter, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, digital ‘data free flows with trust’, quality infrastructure, IMF reforms with respect to concluding its quota review and governance reforms and possibly on digital taxation and base erosion and profit sharing (BEPS).” It was a busy Summit.

Yves is the Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Executive Director of the UBC China Council, and a full Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. Importantly, Yves spent several years working in Japan and has focused a good deal of his research on globalization examining China in particular. He specializes in comparative political economy and international political economy with an empirical focus on China, Japan, and Korea

Let’s join Yves in a first conversation on the Osaka G20 Summit.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 11: Yves Tiberghien on the Japanese G20 Summit in Osaka

We begin the country tour of the major G20 members with Ep 12. Matthew Goodman is our guest from CSIS in Washington.  As his short bio below will tell you, Matt has had both public and private sector roles and has been directly involved with the G20 in past administrations. 

If nothing else, as noted in Ep 11 with Yves Tiberghien, the G20 Summit was filled with pageantry – principally Donald Trump’s. There is a series of Trump events – meeting with China’s Xi Jinping over the US-China trade war, and, as it turns out, a rather vague  agreement providing a truce in the tariff increases by the United States while negotiations resume, his encounters with Vladimir Putin and the breakfast with the Saudi Crown Prince and finally, but certainly not least, the meeting with Kim Jong-un at the Korean DMZ just after the completion of the Summit. One of the first questions we have for Matt is what is the Trump Administration up to; what was the President hoping to accomplish at the G20 in Japan? We were fortunate to be able to ask Matt to help us better understand the Administration’s stance with both the top-tier and mid-tier issues of this Summit. 

Matthew is senior vice president, senior adviser for Asian economics, and holds the Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS. Matthew has served in both the private sector at Goldman Sachs and Albright Stonebridge Group and has also held a number of significant roles in the public sector including early in his career as an international economist at the U.S. Treasury Department and at the Tokyo Embassy. Subsequently, he was director of international economics on the National Security Council staff responsible for the G20 and, the then G8, and then former White House Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the East Asia Summit (EAS).

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 12: Matthew Goodman on the Japanese G20 Summit in Osaka (A US Perspective)

This podcast with Masahiro Kawai continues our country tour focused on the Osaka G20 Summit. Japan was, of course a key actor for this Summit with its hosting of this year’s annual G20 Summit. With growing competition between powers - China, Russia and the United States – the hosting has placed even greater pressure on those countries that host the annual G20. Japan also had a stressful year as a result of other events – the abdication of the Emperor and elections for the Upper Chamber. These events led Japan to initiate a truncated period before the Leaders’ Summit which took place on June 28-29th. 

The Summit witnessed a ‘reality TV series’ of meetings for President Trump – with China’s Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin of Russia, the Saudi Crown Prince and topped off with a meeting with Kim Jong-un of North Korea at the Korean DMZ. Difficult negotiations taxed Prime Minister’s Abe and his officials in finalizing the Leaders’ Declaration. 

Masahiro Kawai was an ideal guest as he was ‘well plugged in’ to the official Japanese G20 and T20 processes. Masahiro Kawai today is a Professor of the Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Tokyo and Representative Director and Director General, Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia (ERINA). He has held many official roles including Dean and CEO of the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) 

Come listen to his valuable insights on Japan’s hosting of the G20 Osaka Summit.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 13: Masahiro Kawai on the Japanese G20 Summit in Osaka

I could not forego an opportunity to sit down in the virtual studio at Global Summitry to discuss the G20 Osaka Summit with my colleague Bertrand Badre. Bertrand maintains strong transatlantic ties and so I was eager both to discuss the Summit from a European perspective and to get a closer look at European politics at the EU and at national levels. 

In his career, Bertrand has held both private and public roles especially in the national and global financial system. From 2004 and 2007, Bertrand was a managing director of Lazard in Paris and responsible for the Financial Services Group and from 2007 to 2011 he served as group chief financial officer of Crédit Agricole.

On the public service side, he served in the French Ministry of Finance from 1995 to 1999 where he led a number of control audit, and consultancy missions for the French National Audit Office. In 2003, Bertrand was invited to join President Jacques Chirac's diplomatic team and was closely involved in the preparation of the G8 summit in Evian. Importantly, Bertrand was the Managing Director of the World Bank Group and the Chief Financial Officer for it. 

Bertrand Badré today is the CEO and Founder of ‘Blue like an Orange Sustainable Capital’ an investment fund with the objectives to finance the Sustainable Development Goals with market level financial returns.

Bertrand has written a number of books most recently, “Can Finance Save the World?” Earlier, Bertrand wrote “From Billions to Trillions: MDBs contributions to financing for development” and in 2004, he wrote “Water” with Michel Camdessus, on finance and access to water.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 14: Bertrand Badre on the Japanese G20 Summit – A European Perspective

To round out our Summit Dialogue series on the Osaka G20, I sat down with Jia Qingguo to examine the results of the Osaka Summit as seen from the Chinese government. I also took the opportunity to review with Jia Qingguo the state of US-China relations in the context of the growing trade war set off by President Trump.

Jia Qingguo was until recently the Dean of the School of International Studies (SIS) at Peking University (Beida). Jia Qingguo received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and taught at a number of schools including in the United States. He is also a member of Standing Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the China Democratic League.

Jia Qingguo has published extensively on U.S.-China relations, relations between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Chinese foreign policy and Chinese politics. He is considered one of the ‘leading lights’ in explaining U.S. – China relations. So, it was a most opportune moment to sit down with Jia Qingguo following the G20 Summit.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 15: Jia Qingguo on the Japan G20 Summit and the Growing US-China Tensions

Both Jennifer and Matthew attended COP 25 in Madrid. So, I wanted to get a first-hand reflection on the meeting and the results achieved. I also wanted to get from them their own assessment of the state of efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. Finally, I wanted to discuss with Jennifer and Matt what is needed for the upcoming COP26 that is meeting in Glasgow five years after the successful conclusion of the Paris Climate Change Agreement. Are we on track, and if not as it appears to be, what can be done at COP26?

Jennifer Allan is a writer/editor at ‘Earth Negotiations Bulletin’ and a lecturer at Cardiff University. Matthew Hoffmann is a colleague at the University of Toronto and a Co-Director of the Environmental Governance Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto.

Come join us for the is podcast.

Summit Dialogue, Ep.16: Jennifer Allan & Matthew Hoffmann on COP25 and What is Needed at COP26

My guest and I were fortunate enough to attend a recent conference at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Japanese Research Workshop on “Japan’s Leadership in the Liberal International Order”. Many Japanese scholars joined experts from North America to discuss the role of Japan in the liberal international order, especially under the current Abe Government. 

I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to sit down with at least one scholar to discuss Japan’s evolving role. I was fortunate enough in this case to welcome Phillip Lipscy in our studio here at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. Phillip is an Associate Professor of Political Science here at the University of Toronto and is the Chair in Japanese politics and global affairs and Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan at the Munk School. Phillip has published extensively on Japanese politics and foreign policy. So come join us as we discuss the role of Japan in the current Liberal Order.

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 17: Phillip Lipscy on Japanese Leadership in the Liberal Order

We were glad to welcome back Matthew Goodman from CSIS in Washington. As you can see from his short bio below, Matt has had both public and private sector roles and has been directly involved with the G20 in past U.S. administrations. 

Matt has ben working with colleagues Stephanie Segal and Mark Sobel to evaluate the G20 summits. This analysis can be found at the CSIS website. It prompted Global Summitry to get back in touch with Matt to bring him into the virtual studio to discuss how the Informals and the formal institutions are responding to the pandemic. We also had an opportunity during the podcast to examine the difficult relationship between the two leading states, the U.S. and China, and how that disruptive relationship has had an impact on the global governance response to the crisis.

Matthew is senior vice president, senior adviser for Asian economics, and holds the Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS. Matthew has served in both the private sector at Goldman Sachs and Albright Stonebridge Group and has also held several significant roles in the public sector including early in his career as an international economist at the U.S. Treasury Department and at the Tokyo Embassy. Subsequently, he was director of international economics on the National Security Council staff responsible for the G20 and, the then G8, and then former White House Coordinator for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the East Asia Summit (EAS).

Summit Dialogue, Ep. 18: Matthew Goodman on the G20's Response to COVID-19

Bruce and I have had some back and forth recently on the definition and importance of Middle Powers in the current global order. I thought that it would be valuable to invite Bruce into the virtual studio to discuss the role and influence of the Middle Powers. In particular I wanted to review with Bruce his recent writings with several colleagues on ‘democratic multilateralism’ and ‘competitive multilateralism’. How could these shape global governance efforts going forward in light of the growing tensions between the two leading states – the United States and China.
Bruce Jones is currently the director and a senior fellow in the Project on International Order and Strategy of the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution; he also works with the Center for East Asia Policy Studies. Bruce is as well a consulting professor at the Freeman Spogli Institute at Stanford University. Jones previously served as the vice president and director for the Foreign Policy program. Jones’ research expertise and policy experience is in international security. His current research focus is on U.S. strategy, international order, and great power relations. Recent publications include an article in Foreign Affairs, “Can Middle Powers Lead the World Out of the Pandemic? Because the United States and China Have Shown They Can’t”

Summit Dialogue Series, Ep. 19: Bruce Jones on Democratic & Competitive Multilateralism

Join Professor Alan Alexandroff as he interviews fellow academics, policymakers, and former officials about global governance and the contemporary global order.

Summit Dialogue Podcast Series

globalsummitry