On its 30th anniversary in 2004 responsibility for hosting the G8 Summit fell into the hands of an allegedly unilateralist America. An America still reeling from the shock of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the resulting economic recession, bitter divisions with its NATO allies and disappointment with the United Nations Institutions over the 2003 Iraq war. So why does America still need the G8? New Perspectives on Global Governance offers new insight into the role of the Group of Eight's major market democracies and challenges the assumption that the G8 is simply a forum for binding a unilateralist hegemonic America. In contrast to seeing the G8 as a means of imposing an American world order this unique collection of new writings suggests that a now vulnerable America must rely on the G8 as a central instrument of foreign policy. America needs the G8 to achieve its security, economic and political interests in the world and to shape the twenty-first central global order it so desperately wants.

The critical challenge of financing development and sustainability is a key focus for the world's international financial institutions, led by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and, above all, the G8. This volume assesses the current practice and perspectives of the major developed world countries that dominate the boards of the IMF and the World Bank and comprise the G8. It looks at the prospects for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in the most impoverished region of Africa, the way trade and finance instruments can help, and how the challenges of energy security and climate change control will affect the results. This volume offers in-depth analysis of: * how the Millennium Development Goals are to be met * North-to-South resource transfers * the challenges of controlling climate control beyond Kyoto In sum, this volume provides a critical and creative examination of what the G8 governments, especially at and after the 2005 Gleneagles summit, have done and what they should do to promote development and sustainability.