Since its inception in 1971, Davos: The World Economic Forum has been touted as the platform for change in geopolitics and the global economy. Over five decades, the forum grew from a European symposium into a hotspot for global deal-making between business elites, state leaders, and tech titans, hosting an attendance of 2,500 members and delegations.[1]
However, the shifting trends away from globalisation and unipolarity to multipolarity, and the rise of emerging powers, have contested the standard form of global governance[2] that Davos has stood for and its precedent-setting leadership, ranging from senior industry leaders, policymakers, and film stars.[3] In particular, its personifications in the form of the ‘Davos Man,’ i.e., the ultimate globalist, have lost their lustre. The founders and leadership of Davos, who embodied that ethos, have themselves come under scrutiny, and not merely by accusations of corruption.[4]
It’s been a gentle fall from grace for Davos, which has remained a predominantly Western-focused forum despite its inclusion of the Global South. Its inability to resolve some of the most pressing issues has left the forum’s public reputation hollow.
Rising from across the world on the back of Davos are new voices through new forums. The infographic shows 46 such confabulations, the division of which tells its own story: just nine began before the turn of the century, and 13 were initiated a decade ago. Their ownership is a mixture of state-run affairs to privately funded conclaves. Amongst the original BRICS, the Valdai Club in Russia and the Boao Forum in China are state-run affairs, and also have private participation. India’s and Brazil’s conferences are led by think tanks; India’s flagship Raisina Dialogue is run by the Observer Research Foundation and sponsored by its foreign ministry but also has some private funding, while Brazil’s Forte International Security Conference is run by prominent institution CEBRI[5] and works with Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung to bring together the pressing issue of environmental protection for Brazil, security and governance.
The prominent summits of the West are the Munich Security Conference (Germany), the Halifax Forum (Canada), the Milken Institute Global Conference and Summit of the Americas (U.S), the Globsec Forum in Bratislava (Slovakia), and Britain’s think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies runs the famous Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore and the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain. The Nikkei Forum for the Future of Asia is Tokyo’s significant offering, and France has just begun the AI Action Forum.
More importantly, dialogues on the rise in developing countries – the Atlantic Dialogues in Morocco, the Tana High Level Dialogue in Ethiopia, and the Astana International Forum in Kazakhstan.
The conferences share common themes of geopolitics and security, and technology and innovation, particularly so in the Global North (e.g., Milken Institute and Aspen Security). Governance and international co-operation, and regional and cultural co-operation, emerge as dominant topics among the Global South countries. A key difference between the global north is their greater focus on economic and financial agendas, while their counterparts from the global south emphasise themes of regional cooperation. Clearly, dialogues that encompass regional perspectives are paramount for addressing global challenges for a shifting world order – a perspective that has been left out of Davos.
This infographic lists 46 major global conferences, along with their key organising institutions, locations, main agenda themes from previously held conferences, and year of founding.
Arya Ghadigaonkar, Avica Kumar, and Rayan Mama are Former Interns, Gateway House
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References:
[1] McKinsey and Company, “What is Davos?”, November 8, 2024, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-davos
[2] Transnational Institute, “Davos and its danger to Democracy”, January 18, 2016, https://www.tni.org/en/article/davos-and-its-danger-to-democracy
[3] Transnational Institute, “Davos and its danger to Democracy”, January 18, 2016, https://www.tni.org/en/article/davos-and-its-danger-to-democracy
[4] The European Council on Foreign Relations, “The decline and fall of Davos man”, May 31, 2022, https://ecfr.eu/article/the-decline-and-fall-of-davos-man/
[5] https://cebri.org/en/evento/897/xxii-forte-international-security-conference-beyond-the-tipping-point