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Next week in Switzerland, representatives of governments and international organizations, billionaires and big businessmen, experts and academics, NGOs and journalists will again descend on the Graubünden winter sports resort of Davos.
The 54th Annual General Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) was held on January 15, with the motto of “Rebuilding Trust” and the agenda of the “Fundamental Principles of Trust”: transparency, consistency and responsibility. It will open on.
But the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which appears to have further polarized and divided societies, and new conflicts around the world will make rebuilding trust in institutions difficult. there is a possibility. And recently, the relevance of the WEF itself has often been the subject of debate.
Attendance at the annual meeting has declined in recent years. The names of key figures, including US President Joe Biden, have disappeared. In 2023, the only G7 leader to attend was German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
But this year is off to a more positive start, with more political and economic power brokers expected to participate, especially those who could play important roles in major global conflicts. It seems there is.
“Leaders are not losing interest in forums such as the WEF, but they are making strategic decisions about whether it is beneficial to attend the conference each year.” Honorary Professor of World Politics, City, University of London Professor Peter Willetts told Al News Agency. Jazeera.
“Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to rally support for Ukraine, which will likely mean Russia sending a low-level political delegation.”
Willetts said the U.S. will send a delegation consisting of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Agency Jake Sullivan, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s chief negotiator on climate change. He added that this is planned.
Also scheduled to attend this week are Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.
Building a community
Experts say that despite unanswered questions of war and peace, a slowing global economy and widening social disparities, Davos is still seen as an opportunity to reduce the factors that lead to global conflict. .
Professor Jan Aert Scholte, professor of global change and governance issues at Leiden University, said: “The WEF is certainly a powerful force promoting the idea of public-private partnerships and multi-stakeholder cooperation to address global challenges. “It has become,” he told Al Jazeera.
While the G7 and other summits are about tough negotiations and results, the WEF has always been a platform for exchanging ideas.
“WEF’s approach to addressing issues is guided by a commitment to so-called ‘multi-stakeholder governance’, which recognizes that the world’s problems are best addressed by the diverse stakeholders who affect them. ,” said Jack Copley, assistant professor of international studies. He spoke to Al Jazeera about Political Economy at Durham University.
Therefore, the basis of WEF’s work is not the creation of events, but the creation of communities. It provides a forum for communication and discussion between the world’s most important decision makers.
Since its founding, the WEF has provided a space for building a community of political and business leaders, experts and civil society representatives, observers said. The real value of this event lies in its emphasis on networking and building knowledge about world affairs. And it has helped facilitate such exchanges, even if perhaps the WEF does not meet the standards it often claims.
“Like all political forums, the World Economic Forum [Forum] “The goals are stated in overly optimistic and general terms,” Willetts said. “Having said that, for some world leaders it is helpful to have group discussions during formal meetings and informal one-on-one discussions outside of meetings over drinks or at mealtimes.” It was a great forum.
“Also helpful was the diversity of participants, from politicians from major countries and UN officials to business leaders and staff from major non-governmental organizations.”
Tackling misinformation
According to WEF’s 2024 Global Risks Report, disinformation and misinformation will pose the biggest threat to the world over the next two years. Second place and he third place are extreme weather and political polarization in society.
The main driver of disinformation is artificial intelligence (AI), which can generate large amounts of disinformation at lightning speed and in seemingly “real” ways. However, so far there are few solutions to this challenge. The European Union recently reached a tentative agreement on the regulation of AI, but there is no broad global regulation or common rulebook.
“Assessing and addressing the impact of AI is clearly important, and it would be careless for the WEF to ignore this topic,” Scholte noted. “However, it remains to be seen whether the WEF has anything distinctive to contribute and how well it communicates and collaborates with other efforts in this area.”
Beyond disinformation, other issues that will emerge in 2024 include a global economic downturn, inflation, and the possibility of a recession.
“The global economy faces many risks in 2024,” Copley said. “The threat to global production and commerce from war exists, from the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the regional impact of Israel’s destruction of Gaza. The fight against inflationary pressures that have emerged in recent years continues. Central banks have sought to use tight monetary policy to control inflation without causing a major crisis in the financial system or causing enough economic pain to cause political instability.”
“There are also long-term issues of slowing growth in China and relative stagnation across the global economy, as well as high levels of debt in many global South economies like Argentina. And, of course, the worsening climate crisis. will increase disruption to economic activity.”
Missing the point
At the same time, Copley thinks this year’s WEF may be a bit of an anomaly. “This year’s agenda does not propose anything particularly creative. The issues could have been raised in more challenging ways, such as building peace rather than achieving security. From a perspective. Discussing the concept of growth, rather than taking its desirability for granted. Looking beyond climate policy to larger debates about the ecological viability of the dominant world order. I’m heading towards it.”
The lack of results will be welcomed by critics who have never believed that the WEF is making the world a better place, even if it wants to claim it is.
“WEF and other multi-stakeholder initiatives suffer from democratic deficiencies when affected people do not have adequate opportunities to participate and control the process,” Scholte said. .
“This is an exclusive, invite-only club, with meaningful participation largely limited to the world’s more powerful governments, corporations and civil society actors. Furthermore, excluded people consent to WEF’s work. For those who do not, or feel harmed by WEF activities, there is a general lack of appropriate channels for their voices to be heard and for them to seek redress.”
This status quo, and the idea that a “global elite” is making decisions on behalf of ordinary people, has become fodder for various conspiracy theorists, who strive for a world order that suits them. It is stirring up fear of secret circles. “Some of the criticisms of the WEF are quite fanciful, such as claims that the WEF is part of a global cabal that controls world affairs,” Copley said. “These conspiracies appear to be gaining momentum in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
This week’s WEF is sure to spark a debate over its relevance and legacy.
“Whether the WEF is successful in its current iteration depends on how you interpret its goals,” Copley said. “It has certainly succeeded in bringing together various business and political elites from around the world to discuss pressing topics in luxurious settings, and has produced a variety of reports and public-private initiatives. Some of these initiatives include , some have had tangible effects on real-world problems, such as vaccination campaigns,” Copley concluded.
“But the WEF’s actual influence falls short of its lofty declarations.”
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