The world has become more fractious and divided in the last three years as wars in Ukraine and Gaza threaten the global political order and countries co-operate less on health, according to a new report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) ahead of its annual meeting in Davos next week.
The organisation’s new “global co-operation barometer”, developed in collaboration with consultancy McKinsey, uses a range of indicators from trade and capital to peace and security to gauge the state of global co-operation.
It found that co-operation between countries was “resilient” across multiple measures from 2012 until 2020 but has deteriorated since 2020 reflecting “reversals in global health co-operation and sharp increases in violent conflict, shown through declines in the barometer’s health and wellness and peace and security pillars”.
War and rising geopolitical tensions have arrested and stalled one of the more powerful forces of the past 20 years, globalisation, a process that has seen large-scale multinational investment in Ireland. The Department of Finance recently labelled deglobalisation as a central risk for the export-led Irish economy.
The forum noted that the report’s release follows a year that was the hottest on record and “saw escalating levels of conflict worldwide, but that also brought progress on climate action, trade agreements and innovation”.
“The greatest challenges – and the most promising opportunities – for our planet, societies and economies are not bound by borders, which means the only way to address them is through co-operation,” said WEF president Børge Brende said.
“What the barometer shows is that co-operation on many issues is possible, even in the midst of competition and confrontation. In other words, leaders can work together despite not seeing eye to eye on everything,” he said.
The 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum kicks off next week in the Swiss Alpine village of Davos against rising geopolitical tensions linked to the conflict in Gaza and the rapid uptake of AI technologies.
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The theme this year’s event is “rebuilding trust”. The hypergrowth of technologies such as AI is most likely to be central to many discussions along with other themes including “co-operation in a fractured world”, “jobs for a new era” and “a strategy for climate, nature and energy”.
Organisers say the meeting of leaders from government, business, and civil society “aims to restore collective agency, and reinforce the fundamental principles of transparency, consistency and accountability among leaders”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe will be attending the event.
Founded by Swiss-German economist Klaus Schwab in 1971, the forum is a not-for-profit foundation intended to foster global co-operation. It has, over the years, become synonymous with the global elite.
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