PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

The Group of Seven (G7) and the Group of Twenty (G20) share the idea that they both matter in world politics. As a case study on practices of comparison, this article analyses how both groups ‘make themselves matter’. It traces how both groups operate as global communities of practice that not only ‘reflect’ power, but through practices of power comparison also define, and permanently re-define, what that power entails. To pursue this goal, we briefly introduce the historical-sociological concept of practices of comparison as underlying the construction of power and being anchored in relevant communities of practice. We then provide an empirical analysis of the discourses in the G7 and the G20 through a detailed analysis of both groups’ documents (final declarations, reports, and press releases) from 1975–2022. We demonstrate how ‘mattering’ and the associated understanding of power undergo changes reflecting and co-constituting the coordinates and meanings of power.