Samenvatting

I started this particular project with an internship at the European Commission in Beijing, China. Experiencing China's enormous growth myself in the last seven months it was clear to me that China will have an even greater impact on both the economic and political agendas of the Western world and its international organisations. This dissertation will relate to China and its impact on one of the most powerful international organisations in the world, the G8. The G8 is a representation of the eight most industrialised countries in the world, however does not include the 'People's Republic of China'. On the one hand the most developed nations have declared that China should not be left out on decision making in the ever increasing complexity of the global economy. On the other hand China membership is still questionable due to issues such as democratic credentials, human rights and Co2 reduction.

The purpose of this thesis is first to identify the G8 and China's ever growing economic potential to then examine the impact of China on the G8 and what the G8 would be able to gain with the incorporation of China into the group. Additionally China has sought recognition from the developed world and joining the G8 would allow them to strengthen their political agenda further thus investigating their standpoint in regards of joining this illusive group was also included.

This thesis questions therefore China's and the G8's standpoint towards each other and China's image of a 'double faced ally' which in one way will help the G8 with restoring a degree of legitimacy with incorporating a developing country. On the contrary it would however also change the G8's agenda from its original form on promoting democracy. As a conclusion I attempted to bring all these points together, with the hope to create further insight into this complicated situation.