Abstract
Summit reform, expanding the G-8 to a larger grouping of countries, is a sin qua non for creating more representativeness and performance legitimacy, filling the void at the apex of the international system and addressing the mismatch between 21st century global challenges and the current international institutional framework. Process, aspirational and political legitimacy based on the role of nation states in forging the Millennium Agenda buttress an expanded summit mechanism. Practical issues of safeguards for current and potential new members of the summit group, rotational membership and provision for revisiting the membership issue in the future provide enhanced prospects for moving forward on summit reform. Global governance based on national leaders is critical to addressing the interlinkages among major issues on the global agenda and shaping the new inter-institutional relationships necessary to deal with them.
