The G7 and the management of International Order: The Return of the Old School

This thesis argues that the role of the G7 in world politics has been largely overlooked by the English School (ES) approach to International Relations. Returning to the thinking of what I define as an ‘Old School’ group of scholars within the early ES this thesis makes four key contributions to ongoing debates within the ES.

First, the thesis adds theoretical and empirical insight to the importance of economic power within the ES’s understanding of legitimacy, and development of shared norms and values. Second, returning to early ES work on the role and responsibility of Great Powers, applying this to the evolution of the G7, the thesis argues that the G7 has similarities with past conceptions of Great Power management of international order.

Third, the thesis argues that the rise of the G7 has not been uncontested; this contestation has been fundamental in shaping the shared norms and values held by the G7. In turn, analysis of the evolution of these shared norms and values, including the G7’s response to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine, provides empirical evidence that the G7 does not fit within the pre-existing categories of primary or secondary institutions in the ES. Instead, the thesis argues that the G7 represents a global, but not globally representative, form of solidarist international society.

Fourth, from this historical analysis of the G7 I develop an original framework for understanding the importance of historical norms in shaping contemporary world politics. The Norms Crisis Model (NCM) establishes how historical norms can be revived by key international actors and then re-emerge into world politics. Engaging with overlooked aspects of early ES work the NCM demonstrates the continued importance of an interpretivist approach within the ES. In turn, the NCM has wider implications for the study of historical norms in international relations.