Nature and Functions of the G20

The second part of the book discusses the legitimacy of a specific global governance institution, the G20, which has so far hardly been investigated from the perspective of political philosophy. To prepare the normative assessment, this chapter describes the nature of this institution and its role in international political practice. It identifies two main overarching functions of the group: first, the G20 coordinates national policies of member states and, secondly, the group provides guidance to other global governance institutions and advances international regulations. The discussion of the nature and functions of the G20 shows that it is indeed a proper subject of legitimacy judgements because it is a collective agent that shapes public policies. In addition, identifying the function of the group clarifies what is at stake in legitimacy judgements regarding the G20. According to the concept of legitimacy developed in this book, to regard the group as legitimate means ascribing it the right to exercise its dual function.