Davos WEF 2022 Editor's Notes: The Tooze Effect

Follow this daily blog by BQ Prime's Managing Editor Menaka Doshi for all that you must know from the 2022 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

I have a routine. I can call it that because I've done it for over a decade even if it takes place only once a year. I land in Zurich. Buy a coffee at the airport and step out to drink it. The winter coat is still in the bag, the boots have yet to be changed from travel wear. The assault of the early morning cold in peak winter on an arrived-from-tropical-country-body is the best way to start what is a grueling week of interviews.

This year, I skipped the coffee for a cold bottle of water and stepped out on a hot and sunny kerbside. The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting has moved from its usual spot in end-January to May. It saved me money on a new pair of Uggs after the old ones died in 2020, after many years of faithful once-a-year service.

(Photograph: BQ Prime)

It was expected to be a low-turnout Davos – we are, after all, in the middle of a war and the middle-to-end of a pandemic. The sessions cover familiar topics...that a Zoom-connected world has discussed to death.

The Future Of Globalisation. Equitable Responses To Ending The Pandemic. Global Cybersecurity Outlook. The speaker list is heavier on the government and international multilateral institution side than on business and there is an ongoing focus on tech pioneers and startup founders. Many sessions are broadcast by the WEF and you could see them sitting in Mumbai.

(Photograph: BQ Prime)

So why did I come all the way to Zurich (a 20-hour journey in post-pandemic travel)? To meet Adam Tooze. I'm a Tooze follower since before the New Yorker proclaimed him a cult hero. Because he questions questions.

I ask if we live in a leaderless world, Tooze calls it a polycentric world, with nodes of leadership.

Watch the Tooze conversation here. He talks about the outcomes of Russia's war against Ukraine; if U.S. and China can be equal powers; what a fractured world means for democracy, climate change, globalisation, and trade. And where India will land in all this.

On Monday, I expect a session on The Future Of Democracy and one on The Economy Of The Next Decade will make the trip here worth it. And the tulips.

(Photograph: BQ Prime)

I could get used to Summer Davos.

Menaka Doshi is Managing Editor at BQ Prime.