Summits used to be carefully choreographed affairs where leaders excelled at papering over their differences. No more. The differences between France and Germany are on display for all to see.
It would be easy to conclude that the world is now uniquely out of control, with the leaders mere shadows flitting across the stage. But that would be nostalgia for a bygone age which never actually existed. In 1993, at the height of Western triumphalism after the end of the Cold War, the US had to retreat from Somalia. As Europe proclaimed itself a global power, it flunked its first great test, the break-up of Yugoslavia, leading to 10 years of war in the Balkans.
The leaders of the past were not all giants. Still, with America laden with debt and distacted by an election campaign, and with economic power being distributed more evenly around the world, it is undeniably harder to achieve success in multilateral forums.
