US president Donald Trump’s address to the annual gathering of the United Nations general assembly in late September 2025 set a new low in international relations. Trump delivered a broadside attack on multilateralism – the effort to solve the world’s problems through collective endeavour – as well as issues that have found common cause among rich and poor countries alike, such as climate change.
So where does this leave the work of organisations such as the G20? The body was set up by the G7 in 1999 in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. The purpose was to create a bigger grouping of countries to help manage the governance of the global economy.
The group now represents about 67% of the global population and about 85% of the global economy. But it’s a strange beast: it is a self-selected group, which raises questions about its legitimacy. And it doesn’t have a permanent secretariat, which makes its work cumbersome.
We asked four leading scholars for their answers. Given the changing global context, is the G20 still useful?
Danny Bradlow, in addition to his position at the University of Pretoria, is Senior G20 Advisor to the South African Institute of International Affairs, a Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Global Development Policy Center, Boston University and co-chair of the T20 task force on sustainable finance.
My research is funded by the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.
Sandy Africa is the Research Director of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) and a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria and writes here in her personal capacity. MISTRA is providing technical support to the RSA government during its G20 Presidency.
Ana Saggioro Garcia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
