The event will be an extreme irritant for London’s commuters and traffic. But it is already remarkable in another, more promising way. The financial crisis is the first great test of globalisation. The emerging economies — such as China, India and Brazil — are crucial to resolving the crisis. It is an achievement in itself that the G20, rather than the G7, has become the focus of efforts to stabilise the global economy and reform the financial system.

Mr Brown’s plans for a “new Bretton Woods” system have generated criticism owing to their lack of detail. But it is inevitable that the summit will be richer in symbolism than substance. And to be sure, there is a virtue in the broad sweep: the world’s leaders have the opportunity to restate with intelligence and conviction the arguments for free markets, free trade, and free men and women in the face of heartfelt but fuzzy-brained protest.

It is also a reasonable aim to establish rules for the international financial system so that risks to the wider economy are reduced. Whether or not it proves equal to that task, the G20 has an important role.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • * Economics, Politics • Economy • G20 • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

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