News / Economic Divide

WEF: Why is the world a fractured place?

Friday, 23 February 2018 10:41 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 23 February 2018 10:41 AM ]

Each year, at the end of January, the Swiss ski resort of Davos hosts the world economic forum which is a Geneva-based non-profit foundation. Some 3,000 top business elites, political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists are among those who take part in the annual meeting formed in 19-71. During the event which lasts up to four days, the most pressing issues facing the world are discussed.

The WEF, as its organizers say, aims to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. However, the real work occurs behind the scenes and in private sessions where corporate CEOs meet government leaders without the knowledge of the press or public.

Separately the Transnational Institute which is a transnational alternative policy group and network of scholar-activists provides a different description of the WEF activities. It says the Forum's main purpose is to function as a socializing institution for the emerging global elite, the globalization's "Mafiocracy" of bankers, industrialists, oligarchs, technocrats and politicians. This doesn't sound so much like an organization dedicated to watch out for the people's interests instead of corporations.

The organizers of the world economic forum choose a theme for each year’s meeting. The New Global Context, Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and responsive and responsible leadership were some of the previous themes in recent years. This year the forum kicked off under the theme of creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World. The WEF said this year's summit was important because of the debates surrounding globalization.

But critics have questioned the WEF's vision for the issue, saying the talks were unlikely to help redistribute the world's wealth. Critics also liken the WEF to a QUOTE-talking shop, incapable of delivering meaningful change. A report by Oxfam published in advance of the Davos summit revealed that half of the world's population received no share of all wealth created globally in 2017. The UK-based charity's annual inequality report also found that billionaires increased their wealth by more than 760 billion dollars last year, enough to end global extreme poverty seven times over. This now raises a key question. What has the world economic forum achieved so far?

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