Savannah Morning News
The G-8
The United States, France, United Kingdom (comprised of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada and Russia.
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World War II forced a great rethinking of how global powers interact.
Nations, and the big businesses that affect their decisions, had a growing need to invest resources beyond traditional borders.
That fit nicely with peace planning.
Bluntly put, nations bound by economic interests, it was realized, were less likely to destroy each other.
"Globalization was adopted for essentially political reasons because the nation-state, as exemplified most perfectly by Hitler's Germany, had become simply too dangerous," according to Westbrook.
The Group of Eight, or G-8, is a good example of his reasoning.
Countries that were enemies during World War II have been folded into the group. And Russia, this country's former Cold War nemesis, is slowly gaining full participation rights as a member.
http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/050804/LOC_g8voices.shtml