Why the Davos elites are still relevant

Has Davos lost its mojo?

After U.S. President Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and other world leaders nixed plans to attend^[1] the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Switzerland, some began to claim “Davos is in decline^[2].”

I take the opposite view. Having been there^[3] in the past as part of a participant’s supporting staff – condescendingly referred to by status-conscious attendees^[4] as a “sherpa”^[5] – I have seen up close how much can be accomplished by a handful of people sitting in a room and talking.

As a philosopher and business ethicist^[6], I believe it’s worth remembering some of the history that’s been made in that rarefied Alpine air and why Davos still matters today.

The stated aim of the World Economic Forum – which we commonly refer to by the name of the ski resort in the Swiss Alps where it is held – is “improving the state of the world^[8].”

It does this by promoting global collaboration^[9], capitalism that includes many stakeholders^[10] and public-private cooperation^[11].

Numerous international agreements and breakthroughs have emerged from Davos. Examples include preventing war^[12] between Turkey and Greece in the 1980s and helping resolve the eurozone’s debt crisis^[13] in 2012 – the year I was last there. It brought together world leaders as oppositional as South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk^[14] in 1992 and Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres^[15] in 1994 and 2001.

But Davos doesn’t need to make a breakthrough in an ancient conflict to be effective. Its theme this year, “Globalization 4.0^[17],” served as an important rebuke to the nationalists emerging^[18] in the world today who have shown a disdain for multilateralism^[19] and a preference for confrontation over cooperation^[20].

And in fact, most^[21] of the sessions^[22] focused^[23], as I believe they should, on finding cooperative ways^[24] to solve the world’s pressing problems.

And the world has many to deal with^[25], from worsening economic inequality and climate change to the growing scarcity of water. All were discussed^[26] at Davos this year.

Were any breakthroughs made? Maybe not.

Davos cannot realistically be expected to solve the world’s problems in less than a week each year. But despite its elite reputation, I believe it helps direct attention toward actually making the world better for everyone – and not just the elites in the audience.

References

1. ^{^} nixed plans to attend (www.ft.com)
2. ^{^} Davos is in decline (www.washingtonpost.com)
3. ^{^} Having been there (www.huffingtonpost.com)
4. ^{^} status-conscious attendees (www.weforum.org)
5. ^{^} as a “sherpa” (www.weforum.org)
6. ^{^} philosopher and business ethicist (www.stthomas.edu)
7. ^{^} AP Photo/Michel Euler (www.apimages.com)
8. ^{^} improving the state of the world (www.weforum.org)
9. ^{^} global collaboration (www3.weforum.org)
10. ^{^} capitalism that includes many stakeholders (www.foreignaffairs.com)
11. ^{^} public-private cooperation (www.weforum.org)
12. ^{^} preventing war (www.bbc.com)
13. ^{^} helping resolve the eurozone’s debt crisis (www.nytimes.com)
14. ^{^} Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk (www.flickr.com)
15. ^{^} Yasser Arafat and Shimon Peres (www.dailyherald.com)
16. ^{^} AP Photo/Markus Schreiber (www.apimages.com)
17. ^{^} Globalization 4.0 (www.iafrica.com)
18. ^{^} nationalists emerging (theconversation.com)
19. ^{^} disdain for multilateralism (www.msnbc.com)
20. ^{^} confrontation over cooperation (www.usnews.com)
21. ^{^} most (www.cnn.com)
22. ^{^} sessions (www.nytimes.com)
23. ^{^} focused (www.ft.com)
24. ^{^} finding cooperative ways (www.weforum.org)
25. ^{^} has many to deal with (www.reuters.com)
26. ^{^} All were discussed (www.weforum.org)