A summit, by definition, is for summiteers. Sherpas are needed and so are all the camp staff. Ordinary people are expected to stay a safe distance and laud summiteers. And that has not just applied to real mountain climbers but to the metaphorical ones too. For ages, kings, queens and other heads of state and government have met far away from the madding crowds. Then arrived late 20th century populism. Under pressure from what are variously called civil society groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments and multilateral organizations began allowing ‘people’ to come a bit closer to the summiteers.
Some got carried away by this tokenism. They dried up the moat, opened up the gates and let the barbarians in! James David Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank (1995 to 2005) invited representatives of various NGOs onto the Bank staff, into his executive offices and even into Bank annual meetings. At the Fiftieth Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in 1995 in Madrid, representatives of Greenpeace, an international NGO, were raising slogans and unfurling banners even as the King of Spain was welcoming the gathering.
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A summit, by definition, is for summiteers. Sherpas are needed and so are all the camp staff. Ordinary people are expected to stay a safe distance and laud summiteers. And that has not just applied to real mountain climbers but to the metaphorical ones too. For ages, kings, queens and other heads of state and government have met far away from the madding crowds. Then arrived late 20th century populism. Under pressure from what are variously called civil society groups and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments and multilateral organizations began allowing ‘people’ to come a bit closer to the summiteers.