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About G8 Live

What is G8 Live?

G8 Live is an initiative of the student division of the G8 Research Group, the world’s leading independent research institute providing information and analysis on the G8. G8 Live was originally developed in 2006 as an international news outlet tasked with providing real-time updates from the G8 Summit. In 2008 its mandate was expanded to include year-round news and analysis on the institutions, issues and members of the G8 as well as the Heiligendamm Process partners (the O5 or Outreach-Five states), the G20, civil society groups and the international media.

G8 Live is managed and maintained by the student division of the G8 Research Group, which consists of approximately 150 analysts recruited predominately from University of Toronto undergraduate and graduate student communities. These analysts produce internationally recognized reports which garner significant attention from governments, academics, policy institutes, advocacy groups, media, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. They are the most comprehensive and analytically rigorous reports of their kind and among only a handful of reports in the world that compare all eight G8 members and the European Union across such a wide array of commitments.

What is the G8 and Why Study It?

The G8, or Group of Eight, is comprised of the eight leading industrialized democracies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together these eight states account for 48 per cent of the global economy and 49 per cent of global trade, hold four of the United Nations’ five Permanent Security Council seats, and boast majority shareholder control over the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Each year the G8 holds a Summit, where the leaders of the member states meet and make commitments. The first meeting was in 1975 (G8 countries minus Canada and Russia) 1976, they were joined by Canada, with Russia gaining membership in 1998.

The G8 Summits are the most powerful and intimate meeting of global leaders anywhere in the world. Unlike other multilateral meetings, leaders at the G8 Summit meet privately behind closed-doors; there are no aides or intermediaries and there are few scripts or protocols. The decisions made by the G8 have global ramifications and the reach and scope of its influence in the world cannot be denied.

What is the G8 Research Group?

The G8 Research Group is a network of scholars, professionals and students interested in the activities of the G8. Founded in 1987 and based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, it is partnered with Oxford University and the State University Higher School of Economics (Moscow) and directed by Professor John Kirton, a leading international expert on the G8 and global governance. The aim of the G8 Research Group is to provide in-depth analysis on institutions, issues and members of the G8.

The student division is an independently organized, self-directed unit of the G8 Research Group that is supported entirely by the generosity of private and corporate benefactors. The student division of the G8 Research Group is lead by Chair Sarah Yun and Vice-Chair Erin Fitzgerald. The mandate of the student division has expanded over the last decade from monitoring how well G8 member states comply with commitments they make at G8 Summits, to include studying the relationship between the G8 and the world’s major emerging economies. The student division also examines the role of civil society groups and the media in shaping the G8 agenda.

G8 Live and all the research and analysis conducted by the student division of the G8 Research Group is made possible through the generosity of the following groups and organizations:

Benefactors

University of Trinity College
Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation

Patrons