L20 and ECOSOC reform: complementary building blocks for inclusive global governance and a more effective UN

The ongoing power shift within the global economy calls into question the established structures of multilateral decision-making. Mainly two factors are responsible for the growing governance gap in international affairs. As the emerging powers of the South gain new prominence, the G7/G8 summit of the leading industrial countries, correspondingly, loses in significance. And as ever before, the United Nations do not provide effective mechanisms for policy coordination and collective action in economic and social affairs. In order to simultaneously enhance the effectiveness and legitimacy in global governance two complementary tracks need to be undertaken in tandem: First, the UN’s ECOSOC has to be reformed in a way which allows it to function as an effective platform of global policy advocacy and coordination on economic and development issues. Second, the present G20 of Finance Ministers and Central Bankers needs to be elevated to the level of heads of state and government to become a Leaders’ 20 Summit or L20.