Atle Hetland
This year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, was different from earlier years for several reasons. This was the first time that the WEF founder, Professor Klaus Schwab (87), and his wife, Hilde Schwab (79), did not attend. Professor Schwab had stepped down as chairman in April last year, and his wife also stayed away this year. Yet it is assumed that she still keeps an eye on the arts and culture activities and the sister organisation, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, which she co-founded and still chairs. And I am sure that Professor Schwab certainly follows the main organisation’s work through his modern technological gadgets, and is probably also busy writing yet another book and new articles.
WEF was founded in 1971, first named the European Management Forum, and from 1987 renamed the World Economic Forum, in an effort to bring together world leaders in politics, business, civil society, media and other key groups, believing that when people get to know each other and discuss ideals and practical issues, the world will become a better place for all. The winter wonderland of Davos in the Swiss Alps forms a unique venue to meet away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life for a week’s time, or shorter for many of the busy leaders. Yet, with as many as three thousand participants, it is not quite a week of relaxation, although in a resort town. This year, the theme was ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’, as ever a theme with an optimistic undertone, well needed in our time.
This year’s WEF meeting was not like earlier events, as mentioned above, since the founder, for the first time in 56 events, was absent. But the main reason for WEF becoming unusual was because the American President, Donald Trump, was on the list of speakers, which included several other presidents, prime ministers and CEOs, among them Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif. When Trump arrived on the event’s third day, he caught the limelight and the full attention of everyone. He spoke for no less than one and a half hours, in short sentences, yet not always entirely logical ones. He dominated one full day, as well as the remainder of the Davos meeting.
I am sure the WEF President and CEO since 2017, Børge Brende (60), a former Norwegian minister of foreign affairs, trade and industry, and environment, must have been quite worried before Trump’s speech, and indeed relieved when it was all over, certainly so because Trump had come with some news too. His main news was about Greenland, and he ruled out that he was going to use force to take over Greenland from Denmark, and also ruled out introducing new tariffs on exports from those European countries which support Denmark on the issue. So, maybe including the world’s largest island in US territory was just one of Trump’s dreams and wishes in the first place, but important for his personal legacy if it had happened; even so, it shall remain unclear what Trump’s real rationale was.
True, though, it was also a fact that when Trump began talking about Greenland’s huge territory being important for the West’s security, not only in the Arctic region near Russia but further away, that began to make some sense too, notably that there is a need for increased attention to improved security in the region. Yet that can happen without Greenland falling under the rule of another colonial power and NATO member, having been under Danish rule for several hundred years.
Leaving Trump and Greenland aside, the one who received standing applause and admiration at the WEF meeting was the Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, an opponent of the general heavy-handedness of the USA. He said that the world’s middle-power countries should join hands and become clearer challengers and alternatives to the USA’s world rule, portraying a new and fairer value-based world order. I agree with that, but he should also have included other countries, indeed in the Third World. China is there as a challenger to US leadership, especially in finance, trade, technology and the cheaper manufacturing of goods that the world needs, but China is not a political model, perhaps also not a long-term model in manufacturing. Carney is right in challenging the world order that the West built after the Second World War, including the United Nations under the war-winners’ control. It is time to review and democratise that model now. We should be grateful to Carney for opening a new debate. Yet there is a need for a debate before the debate, focusing on what goals and end results we want.
We now know that the world of post-colonial development aid, alongside the continued exploitation of young states, was not quite meant to lead poor countries to become equal partners in a New International Economic Order (NIEO), which there was much talk about, yet often half-hearted, especially in the 1970s.
If the Canadian Prime Minister Carney’s initiative could lead to a true debate about the future international world order, he would indeed have made a great service to us all, yes, depending on the outcome of the debate. We all must participate as individuals and organisations, and help shape the world of tomorrow with more truth and trust. The WEF could collect some laurels because the debate started in Davos last week. Thanks go to the decades-long positive role of the WEF, and certainly to its founder, Professor Klaus Schwab, and his wife, Hilde Schwab, as well as the WEF’s current president, Børge Brende, underlined by the 2026 theme of the meeting in Davos, ‘A Spirit of Dialogue’.
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@yahoo.com
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