Source: World Economic Forum
Professor
Klaus Schwab is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Seattle,
Prague, Genoa, Melbourne. Over a decade ago, these cities were hosts to violent
protests against a nebulous enemy: “globalization”.
The
protests were aimed at high-level meetings of the international organizations
the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank, not to mention our own Meetings at the World Economic Forum.
Inside
the meetings, while condemnation of the violence was unanimous, opinions of the
protesters’ grievances, and what to do about them, were not.
Many
inside the meetings understood that as the world was becoming more tightly
interconnected as it accelerated into the 21st century, it was also becoming
more inequitable and volatile. Few were united about what to do. And so the
kind of coordination and agreement that would be necessary to manage the
complexity of the new world was elusive.
The
world is paying the price for that indecision and disunity today.
Over
the past few years, our meetings in Davos have often been dominated by a single
major issue facing the global community. From the global financial crisis, the
Arab transition and the threatened collapse of the euro, leaders have often
arrived with a dominant agenda and in response mode.
Today
the situation is different.
From
conflict in the Middle East, the US Federal Reserve’s tapering programme, and
tension in the South China Sea, to the 75 million unemployed young people around
the world, we face a situation where the number of potential flashpoints are
many and are likely to grow.
I
believe this situation is the result of a collective failure to manage and
mitigate the consequences of globalization at the international level that
stems back over the course of decades. In essence, the turn of the century
anti-globalization protesters had a clear message that was right: global
governance was not fit to manage the implications of the reshaping of the world
that was already proceeding apace.
It
remains unfit for purpose, and the challenges the world faces today are
compounded in complexity.
Since
the turn of the century, globalization has helped to bring hundreds of millions
of people out of poverty. At the same time, many of these people have become
customers of the global economy, clustering in new urban areas requiring
infrastructure and resources, increasing the importance of supply chain
resilience and crisis management capabilities.
Greenhouse
gas emissions have continued on an unremittingly upward trajectory, while the
global community’s efforts to coordinate a response around this complex tragedy
of the commons have collapsed.
Global
financial markets have demonstrated all too starkly how unidentified risks and
uncoordinated responses can have a catastrophic impact across the globe.
Meanwhile,
the accelerating march of technology has changed everything that touches our
daily lives, from our ability to create community to the source and make-up of
our energy. And the use of technology by governments and business has
fundamentally brought into focus the nature of privacy and what it means to be
an individual in modern society.
Each
of these examples shows the dual nature of our modern interconnected world –
the shining upside and the complex and unpredictable downside – calling for
more and better coordination of mitigation and response capabilities at the
global level.
As
world leaders gather in Davos, the absence of an immediate crisis should
provide critical space for leaders to focus on long term thinking. The theme of
the meeting The Reshaping of the World: The Consequences for Society, Politics
and Business speaks to the need for leaders to fundamentally reassess how the
tectonic plates of the world are shifting against each other, so they can
predict and respond more effectively to the earthquakes that we know are
coming.
If
our ingenuity and interconnectedness are to improve lives rather than reinforce
the worst fears of the anti-globalization protests, leaders will need to rise
above the endless maelstrom of short-term crises. The turn of the century
demonstrations remind us that the discussions leaders have this week will
influence the state of the world not only in 2014, or in 10 years’ time, but
also beyond that to our long-term collective future.
We
cannot afford to allow the next era of globalization to create as many risks
and inequities as it does opportunities. The reshaping of the world demands
collective insights and collaborative action.
Professor
Klaus Schwab is the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
The 44th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will take place in
Davos-Klosters from 22 – 25 January.
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