The Modern Origins of Informal Economic Governance

Regular informal multilateral meetings between heads of government only began in the 1970s with the emergence of the European Council and the Group of Seven (G-7). Europe’s largest economies were pivotal to the creation of these meetings and saw them as means of successfully managing greater levels of European and global interdependence.  While the European Council developed into a formal part of the European Union treaty-base, the G-7 has retained its informal structure.  This paper uses newly available primary material to explain the origin, consolidation, and evolution of regular meetings between heads of government.