Historical aspects of the establishment of the Great Seven

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Universidad de Sonora

Historical aspects of the establishment of the Great Seven

Dilara Bowler

Abstract

The relevance of the study is conditioned by many historical and modern aspects. In particular, by revealing the issues of creating an international organisation, it is possible to understand what functions the organisation had, and the purpose of the organisation's existence against the background of historical events and modernity. The purpose of the study is to highlight the prerequisites and history of the creation of the International organisation Group of Seven (also known as G7), to investigate the influence and significance of this organisation, both in the past and in the context of modern international relations. The scientific approach is based on methods of systematic analysis of other studies and publications, and analysis of documents, in particular, international treaties, memoranda, etc. In addition, historical and comparative, historical and system methods were used, which allowed determining the place of the organisation in the general historical process. The main results of scientific research should be considered the definition of both the prerequisites for the establishment of the Group of Seven and its results, namely: the activities and significance of the organisation, and the definition of the role of an international organisation in historical and modern contexts. Practical application of the results obtained in the course of research is possible as a tool for solving a number of both historiographical and political science problems. In particular, the study can help solve the problem of interstate relations between developed countries and developing countries, the problem of the political and economic unity of developed countries, the problem of relevance and loss of influence of Western countries, and the growth of influence of developing countries, the problem of the relevance of the G7 format and its replacement with the G20 format, etc.

Key words: G7, diplomacy, international relations, developed countries, developing countries, world economy

Ділара Боулер

Університет Сонори

Історичні аспекти створення міжнародної організації «Великої сімки»

Анотація

Актуальність теми зумовлена багатьма як історичними, так і сучасними аспектами. Зокрема, розкривши питання створення міжнародної організації, можна зрозуміти, які функції мала організація, мету існування організації на фоні історичних подій та сучасності. Метою науково-дослідницької роботи є висвітлення передумов та історії створення міжнародної організації «Великої сімки» (відомої також як: «Група Семи» або G7), дослідження впливу та значення цієї організації, як в минулому так і в контексті сучасних міжнародних відносин. Основу наукового підходу у статті складають методи системного аналізу інших досліджень і публікацій та аналіз роботи з документами, зокрема міжнародними договорами, меморандумами та ін. Крім того, були використані історико-порівняльний та історико-системний методи, завдяки яким було визначено місце організації в загальному історичному процесі. Основними результатами наукового дослідження слід вважати визначення як передумов створення організації «Великої сімки», так і результати її створення, а саме: діяльність та значення організації, а також, визначення ролі міжнародної організації в історичному та сучасних контекстах. Практичне застосування результатів, отриманих під час дослідження, можливе в якості інструменту вирішення ряду як історіографічних, так і політологічних проблем. Зокрема, наукове дослідження може допомогти з вирішенням проблеми міждержавних відносин між розвиненими країнами та країнами, що розвиваються, проблеми політичної та економічної єдності розвинених країн, проблему актуальності та втрати впливу країн Заходу та зростання впливу країн, що розвиваються, проблему актуальності формату «Великої сімки» та заміщення її форматом «Великої двадцятки» тощо

Ключові слова: G7, дипломатія, міжнародні відносини, розвинені країни, країни, що розвиваються, світова економіка

international organization great seven

Introduction

The issue of the history of the creation of the Group of Seven is important and relevant both from a historiographical and diplomatic standpoint. The idea of creating a platform for regular meetings of leaders of the most industrially developed democratic countries was first voiced even before the 1973 oil crisis. In addition, back in the early 1970s, due to the economic crisis between the United States, Western Europe, and Japan, relations in economic and industrial issues began to worsen. This means that creating a format for joint meetings was necessary [1].

On March 25, 1973, then US Treasury Secretary George Schults called an informal meeting of finance ministers from leading Western European countries: Helmut Schmidt (Germany), Valerie D'estaing (France), Anthony Barbera (Great Britain). The Library Group (journalists named the participants of the meeting as such, due to the fact that their meeting was held in the White House Library, in Washington) has become an example of the first informal meeting of the world's leading economic countries [2]. In mid-1973, at Schults's Initiative, Japan joined the group, and they became known as the Group of Five. According to some researchers, it was the Group of Five that became the format that will grow into the “Big Seven” in the future [3]. However, the term “Big Seven”, which was continued by the term “Big Eight”, originated in post-Soviet journalism in the early 1990s from an erroneous interpretation of the English abbreviation G7 as “Great Seven” although, in fact, it stands for “Group of Seven” [4].

The main problem of the study is to determine the political and economic prerequisites that contributed to the establishment of the Group of Seven organisation. Definition of the essence of an organisation, the results of its creation, and its activities. One of the main objectives is to determine the economic, political, and diplomatic consequences of the establishment of the Group of Seven.

Investigation of the history of the founding of the Group of Seven was previously conducted by both Ukrainian and foreign (American, British, Canadian, Japanese) researchers of history and international relations, but so far, there was no consensus on this issue, because the opinions of researchers differ. In particular, the Ukrainian researcher Igor Mingazutdinov notes the main reasons for the creation of the G7 are exclusively economic motives, because as of 1973, the leading countries of the Western world experienced economic difficulties not only from the oil crisis (which forced European countries to switch to oil and gas from the USSR), but also from the economic recession in the OECD countries (which included “pro-Western” countries: Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Canada Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Portugal, the United States, Turkey, France, Switzerland, Sweden), the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, and the unsuccessful attempts of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to reform it, etc. At the same time, the American researcher Robert Schafer claims that one of the main tasks of the G7 was to consolidate the main countries of the “Western world” to oppose the socialist camp, both in economic terms and to discuss other political factors of opposition to the spread of communist ideology in the format of regular informal meetings. In general, most researchers agree that the reason for the establishment of this organisation was a mixture of political and economic factors that developed at the beginning of the 1970s. In particular, the American researcher Roy Likrider focused on the importance of the oil factor, as the main reason in the establishment of the Group of Seven [1]. Another researcher, Robert Schafer, considered the main reason for the creation of the Group of Seven to be the factor of international trade and competition in sales markets between the world's most developed economies, which as of the early 1970s needed to be resolved through a direct dialogue between the leaders of these countries [5]. Thus, despite the lack of consensus, most researchers still identify economic and trade factors as the main reason.

The main objective of the study is to determine the historical and political aspects of the establishment of the G7 and the consequences of this in the historical and modern political context. The purpose of the study is to prove the historical significance, political influence, and effectiveness of the G7 format as an interstate association. In addition, one of the tasks is to solve the problem of insufficient disclosure of this topic in modern Ukrainian historiography. The purpose of the study is to determine the function of this international organisation and the political consequences and results of its creation. The relevance of the study consists in clarifying the tasks and capabilities of the G7. The originality of the study is the investigation of the organisation's influence on other countries and events in the world.

Materials and Methods

The methodological approach of this study is based on a combination of several scientific and historical methods. Thus, the method of system analysis was used to investigate and analyse available scientific and historical, journalistic, documentary, memoir, and other sources both on this topic and on related topics. The conclusions obtained during the analysis of the materials became the basis for further research. Another method used in the study was periodisation, due to which the chronology of the creation of the Group of Seven, the prerequisites and consequences of the creation of the organisation were divided into periods and ordered, which greatly facilitated the work during the study. Using the historical and system method, the role of the G7 as part of the overall historical process was determined, in addition, using this method, the problem of correlation of the organisation's model and assessment of its real activity and relevance was solved. In addition, the historical and comparative method was used during the study. It was used to compare the functions, influence, and historical significance of the Group of Seven with other similar interstate associations (in particular, the Group of Twenty, the Group of Twelve, etc.).

The theoretical basis consists of the investigation of research papers and publications of a number of Ukrainian and foreign (American, British, Canadian, Japanese) researchers. In addition, various documents were used as a source: interstate treaties, acts, etc., memoirs and interviews of politicians involved in the establishment of this international organisation.

The study included three main stages.

At the first stage, the theoretical basis was prepared, which will later be used as the main foundation for further research. At this stage, a systematic analysis of methods, sources, literature, and other components of the study was performed.

During the second stage, an analytical study of the prospects of the topic was conducted, namely: the stages of establishment of the Group of Seven were determined, the tasks set for the organisation and the success of their implementation throughout history were determined; the current state and status of the organisation and prospects for its development in the future were outlined. At this stage, a comparative analysis of the findings was also carried out with the results obtained by other reseachers during previous studies. This helps clarify and compare the results obtained and potentially expand the scientific prospects of the study. At this stage, most of the scientific and theoretical methods that were declared as the theoretical and methodological basis of this study were used. Thus, at the second stage of the study, most of the historiographic, documentary, and source materials were processed, which became the basis for the results.

At the third (final) stage, based on the processed materials, the conclusions were finally determined, which in fact became the result of this study. The results obtained in the course of the study reflect the main trends in the development of diplomacy and interstate relations, especially in the policy of informal Interstate associations. Thus, the findings of this study and the conclusions obtained during its implementation, can be used in practice as an effective scientific base or component of scientific research on the subject of world history, namely: as a component of international diplomatic relations during the Cold War or in the modern period.

Results

As of the early 1970s, the countries of North America and Western Europe faced a number of economic and political challenges, and their solution required consolidation and constant contacts between representatives of these countries [1]. Especially the appearance of such an organisation (at least in an informal form) was necessary for the leaders of Western countries (the United States, Germany, France, and Great Britain), because the existing formats of non-military associations provided for either contacts with the countries of the socialist camp, or cooperation with less economically developed union states, which, nevertheless, had the right to vote and protected their interests, which did not always converge with the interests of the leaders of more economically influential countries [6]. Thus, the idea of creating an interstate organisation that could regularly gather representatives of the world's leading economic countries was laid down even before the appearance of the Group of Seven.

One of the main factors in the creation of the Group of Seven is usually called the oil crisis of 1973. The crisis was one of the continuation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Due to the fact that Western countries supported Israel in the “Doomsday War” (October 1973), the countries of the OAPEC (Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries), in response, imposed an embargo on the sale of oil to Europe, North America, and Japan. This hit the economies of developed countries, which were dependent on energy resources from the Middle East and oil prices [7]. This resulted in the shutdown of the largest oil refineries in the United States, Italy, France, and other developed countries, which led to the massive closure of small and medium-sized businesses in the United States, which was somehow tied to oil (primarily gas stations).

Another factor for the creation of an international association was the economic situation of the United States and the crisis in the American economy, which continued from the early 1960s, and later developed into stagflation [8]. This was conditioned by the gradual disappearance of American hegemony in the world market. After World War II, American goods had no alternative in the markets of Western Europe and Asia, because the local economy was just beginning to recover from a long war and was actually being built anew, which led to the rapid growth of the economy and industry in the United States, because the country actually had unlimited access to world sources of raw materials and sales markets [9]. At that time, the United States produced about a third of all manufactured goods in the world. However, in the early 1960s, the economies of some countries began to grow at an alarming rate, while this applied not only to developed countries, but also to third world countries, which began to raise the price of raw materials for Americans. The main competitors of the United States, not only in the global, but also in the internal market, were Japan and Germany. These countries had an advantage over the United States in the form of relatively cheap labour and access to the latest production technologies at that time, which made the products produced in these countries an order of magnitude cheaper than those produced in the United States. Thus, even in the internal American market, purchasing companies preferred foreign goods over their own, because of their cheapness, which did not affect the quality. This led to a decrease in the pace of production and cuts, which resulted not only in unprofitability and closure of some enterprises, but also threatened the disappearance of some branches of American production (in particular, mechanical engineering, metallurgy, electronics, etc..). This, in particular, led to a surge in unemployment, rising prices and the decline of some industrial regions, the basis of the economy, which was heavy industry [10; 11].

Another important factor in the creation of the organisation was the crisis of the Bretton Woods system, which was also associated with negative processes in the American economy. The Bretton Woods system appeared in 1944 and replaced the outdated “gold standard” system, which already at that time could not effectively cover the entire scale of international trade. The Bretton Woods system, in turn, offered a fixed peg of the US dollar to the gold standard, at a price of USD 35 per 1 troy ounce of gold. Thus, since 1944, the US dollar has actually become the main currency for international financial transactions and the standard in the international financial system, on which the exchange rate of other currencies was based [12]. However, already in the late 1960s, a rapid process of stagflation began in the United States. President-elect Nixon began fighting the economic crisis by cutting federal government spending and raising taxes. However, when this did not help, it was decided to reduce the amount of US currency by raising the interest rate on loans. However, this did not lead to the desired results, but on the contrary, prices continued to rise, and in the first two years of Nixon's presidency, they increased by an average of 15%. Then, in 1971, Nixon announced the end of the conversion of the dollar into gold, effectively withdrawing the US currency from the Bretton Woods system, of which it was the basis. This helped revive US exports, but other problems, such as rising prices and unemployment, were not resolved. Such actions led to a significant devaluation of the dollar exchange rate, which from 1971 to 1973 collapsed from USD 35 to 42 per 1 troy ounce [13]. The instability of the main currency in the international market negatively affected the world market and trade in general, which was dissatisfied with other economically developed countries, which brought their leaders even closer to creating a format for regular meetings, at least to discuss and create a new system of monetary relations that could replace the Bretton Woods (the Jamaican system replaced the Bretton Woods in 1976, and consisted in setting the exchange rate not by the state, but by the market) [14].

Not only the United States, but also every country of the future Group of Seven, experienced certain economic difficulties at the time of the organisation's establishment. In Italy, the 1973 oil crisis, which ended a period that lasted from the 1950s and was called the “Italian economic miracle”, in just over 10 years, the Italian economy turned from an agricultural economy into one of the most industrialised in Europe. In order to prevent a recession and a decline in economic growth, Germany was forced to invite labour migrants from the East (primarily Turkey), which had positive consequences for the economy. Great Britain and France were already in quite long crises related to the decolonisation process of the 1970s, which promoted social and political instability in these countries. Only Japan at that time was going through a period that historians would later call the “Golden sixties”, with record economic and production growth rates that would continue in one way or another until 1985 [15-17].

After the creation of the Library Group, and later the Group of Five in 1973, the next meeting of representatives of the association's members, at the level of leaders of countries, was to take place in the following 1974. However, in 1974, all 5 countries of the association were waiting for sudden and often unpleasant changes in leadership. French President Georges Pompidou died suddenly, and Valerie d'Estaing was elected president in early elections. West German chancellor Willy Brandt, US President Richard Nixon, and Japanese Prime Minister Kakui Tanaka have resigned over the scandals. In the United Kingdom, due to the political instability of the newly elected government, elections were held twice in one year. Therefore, the newly elected US President Gerald Ford suggested that the leaders of the countries meet next year in the format of a summit, to better get to know each other [18].

In November 1975, a three-day summit was organised, which was held in the “5+1” format (Italy joined the group of five), which is why journalists began to call the summit participants Group of Six [19]. The summit was initiated by French President Valerie d'Estaing and German chancellor Helmut Schmidt, since it was at the initiative of the French leader that the first meeting was held in France, at the Chateau de Rumbuillet. The main topics of the forum were economic problems, in particular, the oil crisis, the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, the prolonged recession, etc. [20]. The main result of the summit was the adoption of the Rumbaye Declaration of 15 articles, among which the following should be highlighted:

- “... in order to contribute to the success of the goals set out in this declaration in the context of increasing interdependence, we intend to fulfil all our obligations and strengthen our own efforts to achieve closer international cooperation and constructive dialogue among all countries, overcoming differences in levels of economic development, availability of natural resources, and differences in political and social systems...”

- “... Industrialised democracies are determined to overcome high levels of unemployment, continuing inflation, and serious energy challenges. The purpose of our meeting was to review the progress made, to identify more clearly the challenges that will need to be addressed in the future, and to outline the course that we will follow in the coming period...”

- “... the growth of the global economy is directly related to the increase in the availability of energy sources. We are determined to provide our economies with the necessary energy sources for growth. Our common interests require continued cooperation in order to reduce our dependence on imported energy through environmental management and the development of alternative energy sources. Through these measures and international cooperation between energy producing and consuming countries, meeting the long-term interests of all parties, we use all opportunities to ensure more balanced living conditions, as well as harmonious and stable development in the global energy market” [21].

Based on the above points, it can be concluded that the main task of the first summit was to solve the economic, trade, and energy problems that arose in the world economy in the early 1970s. Despite the “Rumbaye declaration”, formally the Group of Six (as well as the Group of Seven in the future) was not an international organisation, but rather an international political club, because this organisation did not have a secretariat, charter, and was not based on an international treaty. Thus, the documents and agreements adopted by the organisation are not binding, however, they are always implemented by the members of the association, although they are advisory in nature, based on the principle of mutual respect and diplomatic ethics [22].

The next summit was held in 1976, in Dorado, Puerto Rico. That year, British Prime Minister Wilson resigned, so US representatives believed that there should be another English-speaking politician with more experience in managing the country at the forum. Therefore, it was decided to invite Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who had been in office for the last eight years (which is much longer than any other G7 leader at that time), to the forum [23]. Thus, only in 1976, 3 years after the first actual meeting, the Group of Seven received its seventh participant - Canada. In fact, since 1976 (except for the period from 1997 to 2014), the composition of the Group of Seven has remained unchanged. However, in 1977, at the initiative of Great Britain, another participant took part in the forum - the European Economic Community, which became a supervisor at the organisation. Since 1981, all summits, except for the leaders of the 7 participating states, have also been attended by the president of the European Commission and the leader of the country chairing the Council of the European Union [24].

However, already in the 1980s, the scope of issues that were tried to solve in the summit processes expanded, summit participants tried not to limit themselves to economic issues, and the forum began to raise issues of human rights, global and international security (the Iran-Iraq War, the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, etc..), ecology (Chornobyl disaster), etc. [25].

Thus, based on the above, it can be concluded that the main tasks of the Group of Seven at the time of its creation were primarily to promote joint macroeconomic initiatives, and to counteract negative processes in the global economy. The main historical aspects and factors were the prolonged financial crisis in leading countries (in particular, the United States), the fall of the global monetary system in 1971 and the oil crisis in 1973.

Discussion

The creation of the Group of Seven was an important event in the field of diplomacy, economics, and international relations in the early 1970s. Over the 50 years of existence of this informal international group, a large number of scientific papers, articles and monographs have been written that evaluated both aspects of the organisation's creation and its very activities. At the same time, there is no consensus on the reasons for the creation of the G7 among researchers, although most researchers adhere to the “economic” version of the organisation's establishment, there are also alternative opinions.

First of all, the ideas of alternative versions of the creation of the group of the Great Seven come from researchers from the countries of the former socialist camp or researchers who are somehow connected with the socialist ideology. In particular, this topic was first raised by representatives of Soviet historiography. For example, the Soviet researcher A.L. Semenov, back in 1975 (after the first summit of the Great Six), in his paper “The left student movement in France (1956-1968)”, saw the creation of an organisation of the world's largest economies as an artificial obstacle to the development of the “class struggle”. According to Semenov, the early 1970s were an ideal time for the deployment of “revolutionary activities” and “class struggle” in Western Europe and North America. According to the researcher, the protracted economic and oil crisis of 1973 should have contributed to this, which would have become catalysts for protests that were supposed to develop into socialist revolutions. As an example of this, Semenov cites the events in France in 1968, when protests, demonstrations and street riots forced the resignation of French President Charles de Gaulle, the government and parliament. Soviet historiographers were curious about the French protests because the core of the protest movement consisted of young people of left-wing (socialist and anarchic) views. According to Semenov, the left-wing movement grew in Western Europe, and the protests should have spread from France to neighbouring countries, with subsequent resignations of current governments and elections of socialist governments, at least in some countries, but due to the pressure of “world capitalism”, the protests stopped in France and had no further development. This idea is subject to criticism by modern researchers, namely: Ukrainian researcher Olena Yashchuk-Kode, notes that the socialist movement, although it was the driving force of the protests, the socialist revolution was not their end in itself, and the main reason was the fatigue of society from the presidency of de Gaulle, who had been in office for more than 20 years [26]. Thus, the idea that the main goal of establishing the Group of Seven was to prevent the spread of communism and socialism is outdated and irrelevant.

Another trend of criticism from socialist researchers of the organisation is the aspect that the Group of Seven includes exclusively capitalist countries, and is not a reflection of “really powerful economies in the world”, in particular the USSR and China. This means that the Great Seven was nothing more than a “club of capitalists”, whose members were engaged in the redistribution of the world economy and world resources. This opinion was held by the Soviet-Estonian researcher Arno Kirt, back in 1979. The answer to the question “Why were the USSR and China not invited to the Group of Seven?”, is the very essence of the organisation, because its main task was to discuss issues of foreign trade and economy, while the USSR and communist China were countries with a planned economy, their currency was not tied to the market, and therefore, economic relations between them and Western countries were impossible [27]. In general, despite popular opinion, politics and the struggle against the socialist camp and the USSR were not the primary tasks of the organisation. Issues related to the USSR were the main agenda of the forum only a few times: for the first time, in 1980, when the meeting members condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in 1981, when the topic of the summit was the global arms race, and in 1986, when world leaders discussed the Chornobyl disaster. In contrast, the rest of the summits between 1975 and 1987 focused on economics, energy, trade, and the environment. Moreover, in 1988, the main topic of discussion at the forum was “perestroika” in the USSR, and in 1991, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was invited to the summit for the first time. Thus, the process of rapprochement between the organisation and the USSR began, because with the introduction of transparency and a market economy, the USSR became an increasingly attractive trading partner for developed countries [19].

However, despite the presence of alternative opinions, most modern researchers share the opinion that the creation of the Group of Seven, although caused by negative factors in the global economy, had a positive impact on international relations in the world. In particular, the American researcher Nicholas Bain suggests that although the creation of the organisation contributed to a decrease in the autonomy of the economies of each of the countries separately, however, it had a positive result for each of them [28]. Bain recognises the organisation's influence on globalisation, both economically and culturally, which has strengthened ties between the world's leading economies. At the same time, many researchers agree that over the 50 years of its existence, the Group of Eight format has somewhat lost its relevance. Thus, already in the 1990s, there were many countries that had the same economic privileges that Japan, Germany, and Italy had in the 1950s and 1960s, namely: a large amount of cheap labour and access to modern production technologies. According to researcher and publicist Lex Riffel, already in the early 2000s, countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey, and South Africa had not only serious potential for development, but also the opportunity to compete with the countries of Western Europe and North America in terms of economic and production capacity. Thus, already in 2010, China was ahead of Japan in the ranking of the world's leading economies, taking second place, second only to the United States. In general, according to researchers, at the moment the G20 summit, which was founded in 1999, is more suitable for solving global economic issues, but the G7 has not completely lost its relevance, because the 7 participating countries still account for about 45% of world GDP [29].

In addition, researchers see membership in the G7 not only as economically profitable, but also as an image component. American publicists and journalists Alison Smale and Michael Shire suggest that the Group of Seven is not just an economic forum, but a club of countries that share the same economic, social, political, and legal values. That is why in 2014, after the illegal seizure of Crimea, Russia was excluded from the group (Russia became a member of the group in 1997 against the background of the collapse of the USSR and the liberal policies of then-Rus- sian President Boris Yeltsin, during this period the organisation was called the Group of Eight). Despite the absence of a charter in the organisation as such, all members of the organisation agreed that it makes no sense to discuss world problems at the same table with the leader of the country, who in the 21^st century considers it acceptable to increase his political capital through aggression against a neighbouring state [30]. Despite the fact that most modern researchers see common reasons for the creation of the organisation in 1973, namely: the economic, trade, currency and oil crises that affected the economies of the world's leading countries, over time, the organisation expanded the scope of issues discussed not only by the economy and international trade. Researchers have not reached a consensus on the importance of the organisation itself, despite the fact that some of them tend to consider it not just an economic forum, but rather a club of countries that share common values, and based on them they try to find solutions to global problems.

Conclusions

The international organisation of G7 was created in the 1970s as a response of leading countries to current economic challenges at that time, in particular, financial crises (sometimes caused by political instability), problems in the international currency market and, as a result, problems of international trade, economic stagnation, and the industrial crisis in the United States and Western Europe. The biggest challenge for the economies of developed countries was the oil crisis of 1973, which served as an impetus for the establishment of this international group. The main task of the new informal organisation was to address international economic and financial issues, and consolidate the leaders of Western countries in the process of strengthening economic cooperation.

Most researchers positively assess the consequences of creating an organisation not only for the global economy, but also for international relations in general. At the time of its creation, the organisation was the main platform for international negotiations between the leading countries of the Western world, which contributed to the establishment of economic relations between countries that were complicated by market competition between countries (in particular, between the United States and Japan). Over time, the scope of issues raised at the Group of Seven summits expanded, from exclusively economic leaders of the countries moved to discussing social issues, environmental issues, and security and human rights issues were increasingly raised at the forum.

Despite the fact that over time, the Group of Seven has lost its relevance as an organisation of the most industrially and economically developed countries in Europe (some members were overtaken by China, India, Indonesia, and some other developing countries), the Group of Seven is still considered the most prestigious international organisation in the world. After all, from an organisation of countries that share a common economic interest, the Group of Seven has grown into an organisation whose members share common political values, in particular, democracy, the protection of human rights, and respect for international law.

Based on the above, it is possible to foresee future line of research related to this topic, in particular, in the near future, the issue of competition between the G7 and G20 organisations will be relevant for researchers, because the latter includes countries that oppose their ideologies and economies to Western countries (in particular, China and Russia). The issue of maintaining the subjectivity of the Group of Seven will also be relevant, because there is a risk that over time, meetings will become a formality and will not serve as a solution to pressing world issues (as has happened with the UN over the past few decades). All these issues will become objects of scientific study in the near future.

References

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