Magic mountain

William Cash | Issue 4 | Brussels, Diplomacy, Editor's Pick, Magazine

From the Archive

Residential buildings stand illuminated on the town skyline ahead of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Why reports of the death of Davos Man are exaggerated

There was an interesting if somewhat ad hominem article in the Financial Times in June pronouncing that Davos is dead – the World Economic Forum (WEF) killed off by Covid. The article was written by Felix Marquardt, a self-described recovering jet-set conference addict, “former global schmoozer” and author of The New Nomads, a book that argues that the WEF’s efforts to sort out the world’s problems up a “magic mountain” in Switzerland over a few days is a “quick fix that does more harm than good”. We disagree with this diagnosis, which is: the programme reflects the recent pivot towards a new corporate vision focused on environmental and social activism. Klaus Schwab, the WEF’s founder and executive chairman, issued a new Davos Manifesto last year to mark its 50-year anniversary. “Progressing cooperation to tackle climate change”, accelerating the technologies of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” – also the title of Schwab’s personal economic manifesto, published in 2016 – will be t...

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