Davos – less dialogue, more delivery.
By W. Gyude Moore, Inaugural Visiting Fellow

Since its founding in 1971, the World Economic Forum’s winter meeting in Davos has grown significantly in prominence. In a bifurcating world, its status on the conference circuit may rise even higher. It is distinct from other forums: the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where heads of state and government take center stage; the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings, where finance ministers and central bank governors hold sway; or the Munich Security Conference and Shangri-la, where defense officials are key Players. Davos encompasses all these roles. Even notable critics of the event, such as Argentine President Javier Milei or Dutch economist Rutger Bregman, still accept invitations to speak there. The World Economic Forum (WEF) should leverage its platform to promote global public goods.
I attended this year’s meeting as Global Neighbours Inaugural Visiting Fellow and experienced the spectacle of Davos firsthand. Certain events and tickets were highly sought after, as they are every year. Even though I had left before US President Donald Trump addressed the meeting virtually, Politico reports that his scheduled appearance was so popular that the lines to see him “stretched right into the main Congress foyer.” This is the allure of Davos – being seen at Davos and securing a prime speaking slot carries the cultural and social cachet that attendees often seek.
And here lies the platform’s tremendous potential, which is still underutilized. Davos could be more than an annual gathering of largely forgettable speeches; it could transform into a source of policy outcomes that support our global neighbourhood.
The Forum describes itself as global in nature but remains connected to the Swiss “ethos of neutrality, collaboration, and long-term vision.” It claims to refrain from dictating policy and only “serves as a platform for dialogue.” Understandably, the organizers of the WEF might feel defensive against the accusation of out-of-touch and unelected (business) elites “dictating policy” and issuing edicts from a winter resort. Nevertheless, the world is undergoing a significant change – a genuine Zeitenwende, so to speak. We all, including the WEF, need to adapt.
Because Davos remains one of the few forums with both credibility and a platform for leaders across all sectors of society, it must adapt to the times and leverage its remarkable reach for good. There is a wide range of global commons issues that the WEF could choose each year and collaborate with the most influential actors to find a resolution. There is no guarantee that it will deliver solutions, but attempting and failing is a more favorable outcome than allowing the platform to continue underperforming its potential.
This year, for example, organizers could have easily chosen ”the dark side of social media algorithms” as a topic. From the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal to the recent Australian ban on teenage use of social media, societies are grappling with balancing the benefits of social media against its corrosive ability to exacerbate social divides and impact youth development. Advocating for common principles across these platforms is a necessary, common-sense global public good. The key players in this central issue would gain the premium cut of the recognition they seek in Davos. The WEF would secure its most significant stage and the most sought-after ticket for that, spending the year leading up to the meetings working out the details of the outcome. The advantage of pursuing this at the WEF is that it avoids devolving into negotiations over text, as seen in multilateral forums such as the Climate COP and others. The world is changing, and finding common ground is becoming increasingly difficult, even on issues related to global public goods. The WEF Annual Meeting at Davos can and should play a more meaningful role beyond merely serving as a platform for “dialogue.”
W. Gyude Moore is Global Neighbours Inaugural Visiting Fellow. He previously served as Liberia´s Minister for Infrastructure. Prior to his arrival in Vienna, Moore was Boeing Visiting Chair in International Relations at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, Beijing. He lectures at the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.