Guess who's not coming to Davos: Major world leaders
Guess who's not coming to Davos: Major world leaders
Snub from heads of state, whatever the motivation, represents growing skepticism of globalized economy.
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Summary: World leaders’ decision to skip the World Economic Forum in Davos, a once must-attend event for the elite, signifies the growing realization globalization hasn’t led to promised prosperity and happiness as new challenges emerge disrupting the global order.
The World Economic Forum in Davos, an annual gathering place for wealthy investors that has become a symbol of a world economy without borders, is missing a few A-list guests this year as major world leaders skipped the event, signifying a retreat from acceptance of globalization amid the growing perception it has caused hardship as opposed to prosperity.
Among the key leaders who have opted to skip the event is President Biden, marking the second year in a row he hasn’t attended and a departure from U.S. presidents who saw attendance at the global forum in Switzerland as essential. Also absent is President of France Emmanuel Macron despite having a reputation for economic ideals consistent with the globalized world. (Macron went so far as to have launched a campaign with as cringeworthy a name as Make the Planet Great Again.)
Not in attendance as well are Biden’s counterparts in Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, although that makes sense given the increasing hostility they face for seeking to disrupt or topple the global order.
One top U.S. official who was recently nearby also declined to attend. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin on Monday held a high-profile meeting in Switzerland with her counterpart in China, Vice President Liu He, to discuss economic cooperation amid rising tensions between our two countries. Even though Yellin was basically next door to the World Economic Forum, she declined to attend. For the remainder of the week, Yellin opted to partake in official travel to Senegal, Zambia, and South Africa in the same week as the event.
It wasn’t always this way. Davos, in years past, was such a must-attend event that even leaders with nationalist tendencies felt to compelled to attend, such as Donald Trump during his term as U.S. president and former President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro.
The highest-ranking U.S. delegate to Davos appears to be U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, who doesn’t even carry the distinction of holding a Senate-confirmed role and holds a job with a basic premise of promoting U.S. investment in clean energy.
I couldn’t tell you why Biden made the decision to skip the event again this year in terms of the program of record. Nothing is on the record as the mainstream media have apparently not seen fit to ask anything during the recent briefings. The White House press office didn't respond to the email I sent yesterday seeking an explanation.
Whatever the reason, the absence of world leaders signifies a growing awareness the prosperity promised in a global economy doesn’t hold up as developed nations have hemorrhaged jobs and break downs in the international supply chain were exposed during the coronavirus epidemic. World leaders absent from Davos after being reliable attendees in the past has the effect of drawing on that weariness in a repudiation of the global system.
To be sure, the World Economic Forum is still drawing significant interest. Chancellor of Germany Olaf School is one exception to world leaders skipping the event and is one world leader in attendance. Without 2,700 business executives in attendance, the forum is expected to break records in terms of CEO participants. The number of American executives attending the event is 700 and outnumber the representatives from China by a 20 to 1, according to Politico.
The vibe given by the absence of world leaders, nonetheless, is unmistakable and suggests a movement away from globalization. Given the Weekly Dystopia’s take on the trend toward a world without borders being ironically responsible for fragmentation and atomization of society, that might be a good thing. The globalist system that has left individuals without purpose and community, to say nothing of the disruptions of cultural identity, suffers a crucial blow.
The absence may also be the result of idealists of a globalized economy throwing in the towel. Just look at the economic sanctions hoisted on Russia for invading Ukraine, or China increasingly being isolated on the global economic stage amid redistribution of the supply chain of semiconductors over national security reasons. The vision of the unipolar world that sprang up in the 1990s may be the dream that has died.
I came across this article from Ed Conway at SkyNews, who said on a somber note the decision by world leaders to skip the event, in addition to being the result of continued fallout over COVID, demonstrates the break down of the global system:
“The idea was that by engaging more sensibly with each of these parties the stakeholders could all get along. The Forum's official motto is ;Committed to Improving the State of the World’ but it might have done better to borrow the old BT slogan: ‘It's good to talk’.
Yet in the face of the cost of living crisis, these lines of communication seem to have frayed, or possibly snapped altogether.
There has been more industrial action in recent months than at any time in recent decades.
Dialogue seems to be failing.”
Economists will point out the trend away from globalization may come at its own costs, including higher prices for consumers and potential for conflict among countries that no longer have economic interdependence. For my part, I feel good when I hear the United States is one of the few nations that produces the overwhelming majority of its own food supply. There’s something to be said for that satisfaction in self-reliance even if we have to be mindful about potential expenses elsewhere.