Representatives of governments and international organizations, billionaires, entrepreneurs, experts, academics, NGOs and journalists will once again descend on the Graubünden winter sports resort in Davos, Switzerland.
With the motto “Rebuilding Trust”, the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) will open on January 15th and will discuss the “fundamental principles of trust” such as transparency, consistency and accountability. The purpose is
However, the continued impact of the coronavirus pandemic and new conflicts around the world may make rebuilding trust in institutions difficult. And recently, the relevance of the WEF itself has often been the subject of debate.
High-level attendance at the annual gathering has declined in recent years, with important names such as US President Joe Biden also absent. In 2023, the only G7 leader to attend was German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Peter Willets, emeritus professor of international politics at City, University of London, said: “Leaders will not lose interest in forums like the WEF, but they will need to be strategic about whether it is beneficial to attend the conference each year.” We are making decisions.”
“Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to rally support for Ukraine, which will likely mean Russia sending a low-level political delegation.”
Willetts said the United States will lead a delegation consisting of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s chief climate change negotiator. He added that he was planning to send him.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani are also scheduled to attend.
Building a community
Experts say that despite not offering a firm solution to the problem, Davos could be seen as an opportunity to alleviate the factors that lead to global conflict.
“WEF’s approach to addressing issues…is guided by ‘multi-stakeholder governance,’ which means that the world’s problems are best addressed by the diverse stakeholders who affect them.” Jack Copley, assistant professor of international political economy at Durham University, spoke to Al Jazeera.
The basis of WEF’s work is therefore to provide a forum for communication and discussion between the world’s most important decision-makers.
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.
The real value of this event lies in its focus on networking and knowledge accumulation, which it has helped to foster, even if perhaps not to 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. “However, for some world leaders it was a useful forum to have informal one-on-one discussions outside the conference.
“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.”
About the agenda of the Davos meeting
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 convincing disinformation at lightning speed.
So far, there are few global solutions to this challenge. The European Union has an interim agreement on the regulation of AI, but there is no global regulation.
“It is clearly important to assess and address the impact of AI,” Scholte said. “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.”
Scholte feels that this year’s WEF missed the mark by not putting creative questions on the agenda.
“We could have posed the issue in a more challenging way, for example in terms of building peace rather than achieving security. Rather than taking the desirability of growth for granted. , discussing the concept of growth. We look beyond climate policy to a larger debate about the ecological viability of the dominant world order.”
Global economic weakness, inflation and the possibility of a recession will be major concerns in 2024 and are linked to broader issues.
“From the economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the regional impact of Israel’s destruction of Gaza, there are threats to global production and commerce from war.In recent years, there has been an ongoing battle against inflationary pressures. “Central banks have sought to use tight monetary policy to control inflation without causing economic pain that would cause political instability,” Copley said.
He further explained that slower growth and economic stagnation in China and the world at large will also have an impact, as will an increase in climate disasters that disrupt economic activity.
Missing the point
Some critics have never believed that the WEF is making the world a better place. Even if he wants the WEF to claim it for itself.
“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. There is a general lack of appropriate channels for people to have their voices heard and seek redress if they disagree with the WEF or feel harmed by WEF’s activities.
This current state of affairs, and the idea that a “global elite” is making decisions for ordinary people, is fodder for a variety of observers.
“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.”
