Hi, I'm Ravi Agrawal, Foreign Policy's editor-in-chief. This is FP Live.

Welcome to the show. It is summit season in world politics. Jakarta hosted the Asian meeting this week.

New Delhi is hosting the G20 Leaders Summit, and later this month, world leaders

will assemble in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Clearly, world leaders love

to gather. But more seriously, as the United States and China compete for influence, the rest of the

world has felt pressure to pick sides, form alliances,

or if they can, make the most of sitting on the fence. FPs fall print issue explores

how countries are jostling for power in the 21st century. There are some great essays in there,

and I urge you to try them out. If you're not a

subscriber, use the code FP Live for a discount. One of the authors in the issue is John

Eikenberry, a Princeton University professor who's one of the leading thinkers about the liberal

international order. Now, as the issue examines the most important alliances in the world,

Eikenbury makes the case for the G7, a group that includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,

Japan, and the United States, and the presidents of the European Commission and European Council.

So it's a bit more than seven. But the G7 is becoming what the White House calls

the steering committee of the free world. Ikenbury explains why, but we also discuss what the G7's

importance means for the world. Does it mean that China, which isn't in the alliance, will push

back with its own versions of groups?

Does it mean that more inclusive organizations like the G20 of the United Nations become less important?

These are all great questions to explore, and there's nobody better to parse through them than Ikenbury.

Let's dive in. John Ikenberry, welcome to

FP Live. Great to see you and I'm glad to be part of the special issue. It's our pleasure to

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