Build SQL Database to Understand the G7 Leaders’ Summit 2021
Who is the Chief Here?
This month, the 47th G7 summit was concluded in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The leaders of the G7 countries joined the meeting (US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan) along with the two representatives of the European Union as we can see in the photo above. Looking at the photo, you may wonder, “why President Biden was not at the center?” Or, “why the female leaders were pushed to the side in the party?”
The answer to these questions is not so simple. In diplomatic protocols, the “family photo” is often the product of careful deliberation. Understandably, who would want to be pushed aside on the world stage? Every leader wants to be seen as the “Chief” in the pack to their constituents.
Basic Rules: Center - Right - Left & Front - Back
Think of a family photo that you took in the past, particularly a formal photo taken in the studio. Each photo delivers a message, either explicit or implicit. In the group photo, there is often an order to position each member of the group. Let’s look at the royal family photo of the UK below. First, Queen Elizabeth II stands at the center with her husband on her left. Prince Charles stands on the right side of the Queen; Prince William on the left.
Got the idea? According to the protocols, a person with the highest rank stands at the center. The second-highest rank would stand on the right; the third-highest rank positions on the left. Likewise, the people in the first row would have a higher rank than the people in the second row. How intuitive!
Who’s Higher?: Setting Rank
The story does not end there. We still need to set the order in the group. It may be obvious in the royal family but not so much among the heads of state. Particularly, when we are talking about the leader of the most powerful countries in the world (not to mention their sensitivity to be shown in the press). The diplomatic protocols become important in this respect presenting the rules that are acceptable to all parties involved.
- The host country of the event has the highest rank. The host countries of the previous and following summit have the next highest rank.
- The heads of state precede the leaders of international organizations. In this case, all G7 leaders have higher ranks than the European Union.
- A leader with a longer served as a head of state would have a higher rank than a leader with a shorter term.
Let’s Build Database to Check
So, we have three different ranking structures. We can build the SQL database in order to understand the rank in the G7 summit last month.
1. Create File: In the terminal, start sqlite3 by typing the following.
sqlite3 protocols_database.db2. Create Table: In the sqlite prompt, create a table.
CREATE TABLE leaders (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, full_name TEXT, country TEXT, start_date INTEGER, host_year INTEGER, title TEXT);3. Insert Information: In the sqlite prompt, type the following.
INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Boris Johnson”, “UK”, 20190724, 2021, “Prime Minister”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Joe Biden”, “U.S.”, 20200120, 2020, “President”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Emmanuel Macron”, “France”, 20170514, 2019, “President”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Justin Trudeau”, “Canada”, 20151104, 2018, “Prime Minister”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Angela Merkel”, “Germany”, 20051122, 2022, “Chancellor”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Yoshihide Suga”, “Japan”, 20200916, 2016, “Prime Minister”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Mario Draghi”, “Italy”, 20210213, 2017, “Prime Minister”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Charles Michel”, “European Council”, 20191201, null, “International Organization”);INSERT INTO leaders (full_name, country, start_date, host_year, title) VALUES (“Ursula von der Leyen”, “European Commission”, 20191201, null , “International Organization”);
4. Confirm Data: Verify the information by selecting all data in the table.
SELECT * FROM leaders;- With
.headers onor.mode columncommand, you can improve the visibility like below.
5. Sort Data: Identify the rank of each leader by sorting data.
SELECT * FROM leaders WHERE host_year BETWEEN 2019 AND 2022;SELECT * FROM leaders ORDER BY start_date DESC;SELECT * FROM leaders WHERE title = "International Organization";
What Can We Learn from the PHOTO and DATA?
- The family photo of the 47th G7 summit shows that the leaders are generally positioned according to the three rules: (1) host country: present → previous → future, (2) longer time in office, higher the rank, (3) countries proceed the international organizations.
- However, the data above do not fully explain some of the anomalies. Why German Chancellor Merkel was pushed far to the left even though she has a longer time in office than French President Macron or Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau?
- The diplomatic protocol is considered both art and science. The rules of rank are not straightforward, sometimes conflict with each other. In this case, the 46th G7 summit was supposed to be held in the U.S. but canceled due to the COVID-19. Yet, President Biden still held the second-highest rank!.
- SQLite can be a useful tool for diplomatic protocol because it provides quick references for multiple purposes. Imagine you are inviting a large number of heads of state, instead of seven leaders, the G20 Summit, EU Summit, ASEAN Summit, etc. This type of database can be very helpful.
