Twilight of Hegemony: The T20 and the defensive re-imagining of global order

The postwar hegemonic order is now routinely described as being in ‘crisis’. The chapter argues that the order defends itself through a web of discursive rationales, affirmations, renovations and re-imaginings. Drawing on recent cognitive science, we use the metaphor of a ‘neural network’ that supplies the ‘sense of self’. An example of such a network is the Think20 engagement group of the G20 Summits, widely seen as one of the global economy's key ‘steering’ mechanisms. The chapter traces the emergence of the T20 since the 2008 financial crisis, and the recent Global Solutions Summits (World Policy Forums) sponsored by the Global Solutions Initiative and the Council on Global Problem Solving. The analysis shows a complex, supple and responsive but urgent discourse calling for renewed and re-imagined global narratives, recoupling of social and economic progress, and paradigm change. This furnishes a refreshed legitimacy for a hegemony possibly in twilight, but striving to refresh and adapt in the face of challenges.