G-8 work session; July 20-22, 2001.

The Group of Eight (G8) is the coalition of eight of the world's leading industrialized nations: France, Germany (West Germany to 1991), Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, (the G6, 1975), Canada (the G7, 1976), and Russia (not participating in all events), as well as the European Union. The hallmark of the G8 is an annual economic and political summit of the heads of government with international officials, though there are numerous subsidiary meetings and policy research.

The G8 leaders as of March 10, 2005 were:

• Canada—Paul Martin
• France—Jacques Chirac
• Germany—Gerhard Schröder
• Italy—Silvio Berlusconi
• Japan—Junichiro Koizumi
• Russia —Vladimir Putin
• United Kingdom—Tony Blair
• United States—George W. Bush

• European Union—President of the European Council, President of the European Commission and President of the European Parliament

The annual summits are often the focus of anti-globalization movement protests.

Group of Six (G6)

In 1975, a group of six major industrial democracies met together for the first time. Those nations were the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States.

Group of Seven (G7)

The G7 consisted of the member of the G6 with the addition of Canada. The G7 annually met as a summit of the heads of state until 1998, when it became, with the addition of Russia, the G8.

Participation of Russia

Effectively from 1997, at the instigation of then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, "Group of Seven" became the "Group of Eight," with the Russians attending most sessions rather than being invited along after dinner for coffee and cigars. It was a thank you to then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin for pursuing economic reforms and for being neutral with respect to the eastward expansion of NATO. Because the original G7 are effectively the leading industrial democracies and the Russian economy (as well as democracy) is still struggling, there are still some G7 sessions on economic affairs in which the Russians do not participate. On February 18th, 2005, United States Senators Joe Lieberman and John McCain called for Russia to be suspended from the G8 until democratic and political freedoms are ensured by Russian President Vladimir Putin. [1]

Past G7/G8 Summits

The location of the summit meetings rotate annually among member countries in the following order: France, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, Russia (the order in which each nation joined the group).

Future G8 Summits

Links to unofficial G8-related websites (alternative or protest)

• http://www.reshape.org.uk (2005 summit)
• http://www.dissent.org.uk (2005 summit)
• http://www.tao.ca/~wrench/dist/g8/pga.html (2005 summit)
• http://www.g8alternatives.org (2005 summit)
• http://ppforum.sdf-eu.org/wiki/index.php?title=G8 (2005 summit)
• http://www.perthshireg8.org.uk/ (2005 summit)
• http://g8resistance.org/ (2004 summit)
• http://www.nog8.org/ (2004 summit)
• http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/evian/ (2003 summit)
• http://g8.activist.ca/ (2002 summit)

Links to university research on G8

• http://www.g7.utoronto.ca (G8 Information Centre)

See also

• World Social Forum
• G20