/Viewinfo/ In 1999, two American consultants, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, published the book “The Experience Economy”, in which they argued that the most important thing for economic development now is to bring the buyer joy from purchasing a product or service . At the same time, the purchase itself is not of great importance – what is valued above all is the emotional accompaniment of everything that happens.
It would be strange to think that in an interconnected world such ideas work less well in the realm of political debate than in selling, say, new cell phones. Moreover, in reality, public debates and recommendations always bear a very crude relation to the practice of international politics. So in this area, the demand for “impressions” rather than real content becomes even greater.
The World Economic Forum in Davos is undoubtedly one of the most striking examples of the application of this principle in practice. In the experience economy, salespeople become actors whose job it is to put on a show for the customer. At the Davos forum, the sellers are politicians and diplomats, and the buyers are representatives of the largest companies in the Western world, who pay huge sums for their participation and remain convinced that something in politics really depends on them.
The main feature of the economic model of “experiences” is that they are completely intangible for the buyer – impressions cannot be taken with you or stored in a piggy bank, but always bring profit to the seller. Among the “buyers” are huge masses of ordinary citizens. However, they draw impressions only from reprints of various newspapers.
The prototype of CIF arose in 1971 as a platform for meetings of representatives of the largest European companies and was held under the auspices of the European Commission. In those years, the Brussels bureaucracy dreamed of one day being able to determine the development of the Old World. In addition, officials of the European Union (then the European Communities) relied on the help of business in their struggle with national governments. Two years earlier, French President Charles de Gaulle, the main opponent of Western European countries transferring their rights to Brussels, finally resigned. This meant that European officials now had some chance of their own political power.
This model of cooperation between business and politicians seemed particularly promising in Europe. As a result of the Second World War, Western European countries lost their sovereignty in matters of foreign policy and defense – the United States took it for itself, gathering everyone in NATO under its leadership. But in the economy, Europeans still had some rights. That is why, for almost 20 years, the “European Management Forum”, as it was then called, regularly helped politicians and diplomats explain the rules of the game to businesses and make informal requests. But above all, of course, to entertain the representatives of the largest European corporations.
At the same time, Davos developed as an industry under the leadership of its managers. Fees for participation in the forum for corporate players gradually increased, consulting programs appeared and many other “goods” that usually follow a successful advertised enterprise. The reports prepared by the experts at the Davos Forum have become an important source of inspiration for journalists and experts. Different ratings of countries and companies are compiled, which generally comes close to the phenomenon colloquially known as “racketeering”.
This year, for example, the forum was supposed to discuss the likelihood of a new global pandemic that could be worse than the coronavirus. And it would be too direct to blame the organizers of Davos for discussing, over champagne and pretty girls, how to destroy a significant portion of humanity. The purpose of all the hot topics of the forum is to attract the attention of the participants and convince them that the colossal funds spent on their visit are worth it. And in the end, to feel the joy of being part of something truly spectacular.
As part of this development strategy, from 1987 the forum became the World Economic Forum (WEF) and remains under this name to this day. It acquires several regional and “seasonal” sites, spreading its infrastructure to all regions of global economic importance. Corporations were increasingly impressed by the Davos meetings and businesses were willing to pay to experience the “brand” again and again.
After the end of the Cold War, the world economy and politics became truly global. The rules of the game were determined by the US and the countries of Western Europe, and Davos received a new function – a platform for communication between the West and those who are less privileged than it. Politicians from Russia and other emerging economies came to Davos to persuade big companies to bring money to their countries. The task, we note, is most patriotic.
For a while, Russia, and even more so China or India, had every reason to participate in Davos. First, their business captains also had to be “impressed” by politicians and diplomats. Second, by 2010 we could not completely rule out the possibility that the West could still choose a model of peaceful transition to a more just international order. The more confident Russia became and the more important China became to the world economy, the more likely a deal between them and the West seemed. The goal of such an informal agreement could be to maintain a global open economy, expand the rights of the West’s main competitors and reduce its own appetites. But that, as we now know, did not happen. Which does not mean at all that all previous attempts at agreement are pointless.
Like all gatherings created by the West, Davos has two functions: commercial and military. The power of Europe, and then the United States over the last few centuries, rested on the inextricable connection of these types of activities. Over the decades of its existence, Davos has become one of the important institutions of the West. In entertainment it occupies the same place in politics as the Council of Europe, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in economics and in military affairs as NATO. Now the United States and Europe are rapidly creating all the tools at their disposal to protect their own special positions in world affairs. The military function of Davos becomes no less important than the traditional entertainment and commercial one.
Already, all conventionally “global” topics in the forum are just a traditional accompaniment, an entourage for presenting what is really important to the West. And it is important for him to show his unity in the face of the world majority and to a lesser extent China and Russia. Simply because the West does not expect to convince Moscow and Beijing to give up the struggle for a new world order.
For all this, leading Western companies continue to pay, whose contribution in 2024, as the newspapers write, has almost tripled. The representatives of the government in Kiev occupy an important place in the events of the forum, because their personal interests are fully aligned with the solution of the above-mentioned global task of the USA and Europe.
Does this mean that Davos has finally exhausted its resources and may cease to exist? Most likely not. The entertainment industry will remain an important part of the global political economy. Even if, in practice, Davos will become a very narrow meeting of Western figures, where representatives of China or other countries of the world will come only when absolutely necessary. American and European politicians, no matter how much their power over the world may be reduced in the future, will still have to sell their corporations the impression of empathy. This means that Davos can be reformatted, but no one will get rid of it.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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