Why “Polycrisis” was the buzzword of Day 1 at Davos

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, director general of the WTO (R), speaks with Edward Felsenthal, Editor-in-Chief at TIME.

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Hello from the Swiss Alpine town of Davos, where scores of political power brokers and corporate executives—plus a fair few experts, activists, and journalists—have gathered for the 53rd annual World Economic Forum. For seasoned Davos-goers, this year’s gathering marks the WEF’s first full return to its traditional format since the COVID-19 pandemic, which moved the summit online in 2021 and to the spring in 2022. This week, we’ll be bringing you the latest from the forum, including insights on the most-talked about issues, quote-worthy things said, and more.

TIME hosted its Davos event on Monday night. TIME100 Dinner, during which the World Trade Organization’s director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the International Monetary Fund’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva Invited attendees to not let the many crises facing the world distract them from the urgent demand for more cooperation and multilateralism. “I see the world clouded in tension,” Okonjo-Iweala told TIME Editor-in-Chief Edward Felsenthal in a keynote conversation at the dinner, adding that: “If we don’t cooperate on the things that matter together, then we’re going to perish together.”

It was a stark but fitting reminder for Davos attendees, many of whose schedules have been consumed by panels and coffee meetings dedicated to discussing the biggest challenges of the day, most notably the nearly year-long war in Ukraine (which hasn’t escaped mention in any event or conversation that we’ve been a part of), the cost-of-living crisis (which WEF has declared the biggest short-term threat), and the looming threat of the climate crisis (the reality of which has been on full display in Davos, where there has been very little snow Comparable to previous year

As one seasoned Davos attendee from Chile put it, the calls for greater cooperation—which fit nicely within the gathering’s official theme, “cooperation in a fragmented world”—complement an organization that is as seemingly rooted in optimism and dialogue as the WEF. “It’s all very Swiss.”

But the group that this message is perhaps most targeted towards is among one of the most conspicuously absent from this year’s Davos: world leaders. There are 52 heads and ministers attending Davos this yea, which includes the prime ministers from Finland and Latvia, as well as the presidents and vice-presidents of the Philippines, and Chile. But many of the world’s political heavyweights have chosen to stay away. Of the G7 leaders, only Germany’s Olaf Scholz President Joe Biden, as well as Britain’s Rishi Sunak, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Georgia Meloni, Japan’s Fumio Kishida, and Canada’s Justin TrudeauThe party decided to ignore the event and instead send deputies.

There are many theories about why. One attendee surmised that the forum has become too “toxic” for world leaders, noting that their domestic audiences wouldn’t look too kindly on them hobnobbing with the global elite while their voters reel from the cost-of-living crisis at home. It doesn’t help that WEF has also been subject to plenty of controversy, from more legitimate criticisms over the forum’s private jet-flying opulence exorbitant fees To absurd conspiracies They have painted the forum as a conspiracy to control humanity and a globalist cabal. (If you don’t believe us, just search “Davos” on Twitter.)

Whatever the reason, the absence of the leaders of the world’s major economies suggests that Davos may not be as high of a priority as its organizers, or attendees, might like to think. When asked about President Biden’s absence, Sen. Chris Coons told TIME that U.S. presidents don’t typically attend Davos, noting that “Obama never came.” Indeed, the first sitting U.S. president to appear in Davos was Bill Clinton In 2000. He was the only one of his successors to do so until that point. Donald Trump Arrived in 2018.

Benjamin Haddad, a French lawmaker and the spokesperson for Emmanuel Macron’s ruling Renaissance Party in the National Assembly, noted that the French president has attended several times, both virtually and in person. “I assume [there’s] not the need to attend every year,” Haddad, who was also not attending Davos, said in a text.

Word of the day

Perhaps the most ubiquitous buzzword of this year’s Davos gathering has been “polycrisis.” The term, which was popularized last year Davos participant and economist Adam ToozeThe following describes the multiple and interrelated crises that face the world today: a global health crisis, a growing climate crisis, war in Europe, inflation shock, democracy dysfunction and many more.

“The variety of different shocks of the type that we’re dealing with right now is extremely unusual,” Tooze told TIME. “That’s what the polycrisis notion is trying to get at—it’s like a bad breakfast buffet. The thing about it is that it’s an indigestible mixture of ingredients that do not normally go together in a constellation of forces.”

While Tooze gave the term new life, he acknowledges that he wasn’t the first to use it. He borrowed it from the former European Commission President ​​Jean-Claude Juncker, who invoked the term The term was first used in 2016 to refer to the E.U.’s current challenges, which included the Syrian refugee crisis as well as the Brexit referendum. Edgar Morin, a French philosopher, was the original inventor of this term. introduced the term In the 1990s.

Given the mood of this year’s gathering, it’s little wonder that Polycrisis It has been gaining so much popularity. However, not everyone is happy with it. Historian Niall Ferguson dismissed the term as a useless concept, noting that “it’s just history happening.” Gideon Rachman of the Financial Times called it one of his “least favorite cliches.”

Peak moments

• Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska Davos participants are urged to make use of their influence. “You’re all united by the fact that you are really very influential,” Zelenska said. “But there is also something that separates you, and that is that not all of you are using this influence. Or sometimes you use it in a way that divides even more.”

• China’s Vice Premier Liu He, who last attended Davos in 2018, urging the world to “abandon the Cold War mentality,” the same words Used by Xi Jinping, the Chinese President, when he addressed this forum almost last year.

Spotted at Davos

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla Being congratulated Will.i.am on the company’s COVID-19 vaccine success, and posing for selfies with other attendees, later joined by Al Gore, at TIME’s reception Monday night.

No questions

• U.S. Labour Secretary Marty WalshInternational journalists asked questions of the highest-ranking Biden Administration official at the summit about European fury over the multibillion dollar Inflation Reduction ActE.U. E.U. leaders claim this will unfairly degrade European companies. (Walsh declined to comment on European upset with the IRA on the grounds that he hasn’t been briefed on the subject.)

• Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, dashing away from a reporter for the U.K.’s Daily Mail.

Looking ahead

• Tomorrow, Edward Felsenthal, TIME Editor in Chief will be speaking with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr ZelenskyAt 12:30pm ET, he will join the event via videolink.

• UN Secretary General António Guterres The forum will be addressed at 5:15 AM. ET.

• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Special address will be delivered to WEF attendees at 9 :45 a.m. ET.

—With reporting by Ayesha Javed