WEF’s enduring value depends on its ability to keep pace with a changing world

A century ago, the Swiss city of Davos was most famous for its sanatoriums. Nowadays, it is synonymous with the World Economic Forum (WEF), an annual gathering of the world’s politicians, business magnates and other decision makers. Davos is no longer a place where the ill go searching for a cure, but where the powerful try to cure the planet’s ills, through panel discussions, guest lectures, working groups and networking events. The hope is that gathering in an intimate setting can help build much-needed consensus for a better world.

This year’s edition of WEF, which began on Monday, gets under way amid a swiftly changing international political landscape. Consensus-building is becoming an increasingly fraught affair.

Coinciding with the first day of this year’s Forum, Donald Trump was sworn into the US presidency and the world’s biggest economy took a sudden, protectionist turn. Within hours of his inauguration, Mr Trump withdrew the US from the World Health Organisation. The past year has seen heightened tensions and economic rivalry between China and the US, and the exacerbation of existing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. For those who believe in a more open, interconnected international community, there is much cause for concern about the direction in which things may be headed.

It is no surprise then that many are asking themselves whether the spirit of multilateralism that gave rise to WEF more than 50 years ago remains viable. But optimists still have many examples of global co-operation to point to.

Recent global climate summits in Dubai and Baku were held in the backdrop of global polarisation but ultimately achieved robust consensus – the of getting there perhaps proving the point. In much of the developing world, regionalism and trade co-operation has overtaken nationalism; the past year saw the expansion of the Brics club of nations to five new members, as well as a flurry of free trade deals in the Global South. Perhaps the real trend is not the disaggregation of the international community, but a shift in its centre of gravity.

And while Trumpism (along with other populist movements in Europe) appears to stand in direct opposition to globalism, it may end up strengthening it further, perhaps by chastening its excesses. Populists are often not entirely wrong when they speak of an out-of-touch global elite – that’s why their words resonate with so many. All over the world, people are worried about their livelihoods, the cost of living and the proliferation of conflict driven by the interests of the few. The gap between rich and poor societies, moreover, is only growing.

The challenge for WEF is to hear the wake-up call and keep apace. If you want to cure the world’s ills, you need to be attuned to its suffering.