17 Jan Davos isn’t the way to save the liberal world order – the Independent

Ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next week, British Foreign Policy Group Researcher, Flora Holmes, wrote for the Independent on the summit, and argued that whilst the liberal world order is worth saving – elite meetings such as Davos aren’t the way to go about it.

Flora argued that:

“People do not want change that comes from behind closed doors such as in Davos, from conversations that they are not well-off enough or well-known enough to be privy to. The attacks on the multilateral world order of the past few years have been borne out of a lack of transparency and democratic accountability that the process of globalisation has engendered.

Populist leaders, including Donald Trump, have tapped into this, setting a retreat from globalisation into motion. But they aren’t the cause of the collapse of the world order – they are just symptoms.”

Flora went on to say: The multilateral world order is worth saving. Diplomacy and international forums are necessary and important in dealing with climate change, war, and other global threats. A rules-based international system facilitates trade, travel and other public goods. These forums must be transparent and accessible, however – and Davos is not.

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