Networks of Influence?: Developing Countries in a Networked Global Order

Networks are thriving in global politics. Some bring policy-makers from different countries together to share problems and to forge possible solutions, free from rules of representation, decision-making, and transparency which constrain more formal international organizations. This book asks whether developing countries can benefit from such networks? Or are they safer to conduct their international relations in formal institutions? The answer varies. The key lies in how the network is structured and what it sets out to achieve. This book presents a fascinating account of how some networks have strengthened the position of developing country officials, both at home, and in their international negotiations. Equally, it points to conditions which make it perilous for developing countries to rely on networks.


Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Contributors xi
Abbreviation List xvii
Introduction: Developing Countries in a Networked
Global Order 1
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and Ngaire Woods
1. The G20: A Practitioner’s Perspective 19
Vanessa Rubio-Marquez
2. The G20 After Eight Years: How Effective a Vehicle for
Developing-country Influence? 39
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz
3. Finance Ministers and Central Bankers in East Asian
Financial Cooperation 63
Helen E. S. Nesadurai
4. Voice for the Weak: ECOSOC Ad Hoc Advisory Groups on
African Countries Emerging from Conflict 95
Jochen Prantl
5. The Commission for Africa: A View Through
the Prism of Networks 123
Myles Wickstead
with a commentary by Nicholas Bayne
6. Africa’s G4 Network 147
Khadija Bah
vii
Contents
7. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries’ Finance
Ministers’ Network 171
Matthew Martin
with a commentary by Gerald Helleiner
8. Networking of Senior Budget Officials 197
Alex Matheson with contributions from Mickie Schoch
and Dirk-Jan Kraan
9. The Centre for Latin American Monetary Studies and
its Central Bankers’ Networks 221
Kenneth G. Coates
with a commentary by Richard Webb
Conclusion: Networks of Influence? 235
Leonardo Martinez-Diaz and Ngaire Woods
Index 259