G20 Legitimacy and Policymaking

The project ‘G20 Legitimacy and Policymaking’ (G20LAP) examines whether the institutional shift in global economic policymaking from the G7 to the G20 has increased its democratic legitimacy and ability to accommodate discontent with economic globalisation. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programma under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 845121.

The project investigates how we can explain the relation between more inclusive inputs to policymaking and its outcomes in terms of global financial governance. Ten years following the shift to the G20 and with a full policy cycle behind us, this question can be answered through a multi-methods approach of semi-structured elite interviews and network analysis. The main proposition of the project is that the dynamics of ‘club governance’ hamper substantive change as new members are socialized into conforming to patterns of groupthink. Nevertheless, policy changes can materialize if new topics enter the agenda framed within the boundaries of the existing ideational consensus. The strength of the existing consensus on any given subject should therefore predict to what extent the more democratic policymaking process is reflected in policy outputs.

The project has started in September 2019 and is conducted at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute, an international research institute at the University of Sheffield committed to developing and promoting new analysis and understanding of contemporary capitalism, and of the major economic and political challenges arising from it. The project will contribute to International Economics, International Relations, International Political Economy, and Political Science – as well as to the policy discussions on the urgent challenges facing the contemporary global financial system and global political economy more widely.

Academic Output

Blom, J (2022) ‘G-group legitimacy in global governance: rightful membership of rising powers?Third World Quarterly, vol 43(9): 2149 – 2168

Blom, J. (2021) ‘The Institute of International Finance: From Poacher to Gamekeeper?Business and Politics, vol 23(1): 153 – 178

Public Outreach

‘Pricing ‘always harmful’ activities soothes inflation and safeguards financial stability’ greencentralbanking.com, 5 October 2022 (with Seraina Grünewald, Ivo Mugglin, Rens van Tilburg and Jakob Vestergaard)

De G20 en Rusland: Tijd voor een strenger deurbeleid, StukRoodVlees.nl, 14 May 2022

De Nacht van NTR on the G20 and working as a scientist in Sheffield https://www.nporadio1.nl/fragmenten/de-nacht-van/b6804fd9-a357-4135-96e1-f4b6ddceff2e/2022-05-13-twitterende-wetenschapper-jasper-blom-over-de-g20

Two-way street from Lobbyville: The Institute of International Finance in Financial Regulatory Processes‘ SPERI Blog, 14 October 2020

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A framework to evaluate green agendas‘ Green European Journal, 1 April 2020 (in Dutch: https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/door-de-bomen-het-bos-zien-een-raamwerk-om-groene-voorstellen-te-beoordelen/ )

Économie politique, démocratie et l’Anthropocène‘ Etopia blog, 30 March 2020

Banking on Public Power: Lessons from the Institute of International Finance‘ TNI State of Power Report 2019

Dataset

The Financial Elite Policymakers Interviewed (FINEPINT) database consists of interviews with financial policymakers from advanced economies and emerging markets. The interviews touch upon both national-level regulatory developments and global-level policymaking processes, as well as the interactions between the two. Interviewees are officials from Ministries, Central Banks and Financial Supervisors, representatives of banking and financial associations, representatives of Civil Society Organizations, and officials from International Organizations working on global financial governance.