There’s no proof that Marie Antoinette ever said “let them eat cake”. But, according to historians, it was the sort of thing she might have said. Hence, it rang true or at least chimed with the antiroyalist sentiment pervading France at the time.
The Bourbons were the quintessential out-of-touch establishment and her reportedly cavalier dismissal of food shortages confirmed the notion that the country’s ruling elite had no idea how their subjects lived and could not even comprehend how some people could not afford to eat.
As a smear job, if that was the intention, it succeeded. Two centuries later France’s ill-fated queen is still a byword for aristocratic extravagance.
Davos – shorthand for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual event in the Swiss ski resort of the same name – has something of a Marie Antoinette problem of its own.
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While it bills itself as a progressive conference hosted by a think tank “committed to improving the state of the world”, it comes across to the wider public as a giant schmoozefest for establishment elites, a franking of the current world order rather than a challenge to it.
One comedian calls it “the money Oscars”.
The image of political and business leaders moving seamlessly from worthy pronouncements on inequality to champagne and caviar bumps at one of the many corporate-sponsored cocktail parties doesn’t help. The glitzy backdrop invites a steady stream of cynicism that the event can’t seem to shake.
In recent years, political leaders have shunned the Davos party circuit for fear of contamination. It’s not a good look to be seen quaffing vintage wines when your economy back home is turning to mush (the last three meetings have taken place against a backdrop of pandemics, wars and energy price shocks).
As the biggest meeting of business and politics globally, Davos is the showpiece event for globalisation and traditionally a target of leftwing protest. But more recently it has also become a bugbear of the right, the global version of Trump’s Washington swamp.
Last year, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the most influential conservative think tank in the US, told a panel discussion that Davos and its well-heeled attendees were essentially “part of the problem”. “It’s laughable that you – or anyone – would dare to describe Davos as protecting liberal democracy,” he said.
It is ironic then that this year’s event kicks off on the same day as Trump’s inauguration in the US. Trump’s election triumph in the world’s largest economy and in a country that, more than any other, has driven the globalisation agenda, is a scalding repudiation of globalisation and a check on the Davos consensus.
Trump will address the four-day conference via a live video link on Thursday in what organisers say will be a “virtual engagement with participants”.
This year’s event was always going to be dominated by the fallout from Trump’s second term. Davos attendees, like most liberals, have a love-hate relationship with Trump: they officially despise him and yet his address will be the hottest ticket in town.
“There is a lot of interest to decipher and to understand the policies of the new administration, so it will be an interesting week,” WEF president and chief executive Borge Brende said last week.
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi have prioritised Trump’s inauguration over Davos, reflecting Silicon Valley’s embracing of the Maga firebrand.
But JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon, who was apparently communicating with Trump about economic policy during the election campaign and, at one point, was even floated as a possible US treasury secretary – will be there. Other bank chiefs including Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon are also expected while BlackRock is sending a high-level delegation.
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The annual meeting will attract more than 3,000 business and political leaders, including 900 company chairs and chief executives along with 60 heads of state and government.
Official Ireland’s attendance will be lighter than usual because of the busy political schedule at home. While Taoiseach Simon Harris is on the official list of attendees, Wednesday’s Dáil vote will preclude him from attending.
Up to 50 top executives are, however, expected to attend the IDA-hosted dinner in the Grischa hotel on Wednesday evening (last year former taoiseach Leo Varadkar sat beside Altman).
This year’s Davos convenes under the theme Collaboration for the Intelligent Age, an aspirational notion amid so much political discord and with new technologies increasingly being used to amplify disinformation rather than reasoned debate.
The titles of discussion panels at the event will evoke the unsettling new landscape. “Diplomacy amid disorder”; “Russia, what next?” ; “Truth versus myth in elections” and the “Rise of economic nationalism” gives you a flavour.
A central question is whether leaders can agree on the root causes of this populist backlash and articulate a credible response.
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