Ph.D. programme on global financial markets and international financial stability at Jena University and Halle University, Germany

Samstag, 15. November 2008

The summit labored ...

... and brought forth a joint declaration. The declaration - together with further information - can be found on the summit website of the White House. The first sentence reads:

We, the Leaders of the Group of Twenty, held an initial meeting in Washington on November 15, 2008, amid serious challenges to the world economy and financial markets.
Quite obviously this is a nod to another famous opening phrase: We the People This sets a high benchmark for the results that should be expected from the work agenda spelled out in the declaration.

Detailed analysis & discussion of the summit declaration will follow on these web pages.

Für eine deutsche Version bitte hier klicken: Der Weltfinanzgipfel kreißt ...

3 Kommentare:

Christian Tietje hat gesagt…

The opening sentence with "We the ..." of course also refers to the United Nations Charter "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS ..."

Martin Klein hat gesagt…

Right! Thanks for pointing this out! One might say that this raises the stakes even more.

On the other hand, one could argue that by saying "We the powers ..." they are deliberately adopting an intergovernmental perspective, keeping the other "we-s" - the people or the peoples - at a distance.

Christian Tietje hat gesagt…

I agree.