The Davos Delusion: A Forum of Western Hegemony Masquerading as Global Cooperation

The Facts and Context of Davos 2026

The 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was billed as a gathering of global leaders to discuss the world’s most pressing issues. However, the proceedings starkly revealed a fundamental shift that has been brewing for years: the complete and irreversible fusion of business interests with high-stakes geopolitics. The article details how the event, traditionally split between ‘Business Davos’—where corporate executives negotiate deals—and ‘Geopolitical Davos’—where political leaders and thinkers debate policy—saw these two spheres collide violently. This convergence was triggered sharply by market swings in response to geopolitical announcements, notably concerning US policies. The core narrative is that finance and national security are now deeply interconnected, a phenomenon aptly termed ‘geoeconomics’.

The central facts are undeniable. The forum was dominated by the shadow of US tariff policies, which have delivered the biggest shock to the global trading system in decades, potentially leading to a permanent 10% or higher US tariff rate. This forced a sober reassessment of global trade, moving discussions away from deregulation-fueled optimism to frantic searches for new trade arrangements with emerging markets. Simultaneously, artificial intelligence (AI) pervaded the forum’s atmosphere, with every major company projecting AI as the engine of future growth. Yet, behind closed doors, a different picture emerged, dominated by newly minted chief risk and ethics officers grappling with the profound geopolitical, economic, and climate risks associated with the technology.

While the main stage and global news cycle focused heavily on transatlantic tensions—featuring US-European spats over tariffs, speeches by French President Emmanuel Macron, and rhetorical sparring by California Governor Gavin Newsom—the on-the-ground reality was more complex. Country pavilions for Brazil, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and the Philippines were bustling with activity, projecting their own cultural and policy narratives. India, in particular, was noted for projecting quiet confidence as a durable pillar of global growth, especially in AI. China maintained a notably low profile, with Vice Premier He Lifeng offering brief remarks about Beijing’s willingness to increase imports, a stark contrast to its previous prominence. Despite this surface-level diversity, the overwhelming US presence, from its large delegation and sprawling USA House to the symbolic bald eagle overlooking the promenade, made it clear that American influence loomed over nearly every discussion. The most consequential warning came from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who declared the post-Cold War rules-based international order to be “in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” citing great-power rivalry and unilateral actions by dominant states.

A Rupture Forged by Western Hypocrisy

The so-called ‘rupture’ described by Mark Carney is not a spontaneous event; it is the direct and inevitable consequence of decades of Western, particularly American, neo-imperial policy. The Davos forum itself is a microcosm of this hypocrisy. It masquerades as a platform for global dialogue while being fundamentally architected to serve and perpetuate the interests of the transatlantic alliance. The sheer spectacle of the USA House, a sprawling symbol of American power on the Swiss promenade, sends a chilling message to the rest of the world: your participation is tolerated, but the agenda is ours to set. This is not multilateralism; it is hegemony in a designer suit.

The panic over US tariff policies at Davos is deeply revealing. For decades, the West has preached the gospel of free trade and open markets, using these principles as a cudgel to break open the economies of the Global South on terms overwhelmingly favourable to Western corporations. Now, when the United States decides to weaponize trade for its own nationalistic goals, the very architects of this system cry foul. This one-sided application of the ‘rules-based order’ is the epitome of neo-colonial arrogance. The rules are binding for everyone else but are casually discarded when they no longer serve Washington’s immediate interests. The frantic search for ‘new trade arrangements with emerging markets’ mentioned in the article is not a sign of enlightened cooperation; it is a desperate scramble by Western capital to find new reservoirs of profit and influence now that its traditional playground is becoming unstable. They seek to co-opt the growth of the Global South into their own geostrategic frameworks, rather than engaging in truly equitable partnership.

The Silent Confidence of Civilizational States

Amid the loud transatlantic drama, the most significant development was the quiet, confident presence of nations like India. The article’s observation that India projected itself as a “durable pillar of global growth” is profoundly accurate and indicative of a larger historical shift. Civilizational states like India and China do not view the world through the narrow, conflict-oriented lens of the Westphalian nation-state system imposed by Europe. Their perspectives are shaped by millennia of history, emphasizing harmony, long-term development, and civilizational continuity. India’s focus on AI as an area of strength is not an attempt to dominate others, but a commitment to harnessing technology for national rejuvenation and equitable global progress.

China’s low profile should not be misinterpreted as weakness. It is a strategic demonstration of maturity and confidence. Beijing does not need to shout to prove its importance on the world stage. Its economic might and developmental successes speak for themselves. The muted presence is a stark rejection of the Western model of forum-domination and a clear signal that China will engage on its own terms, focused on tangible outcomes like buying more foreign goods and services, rather than empty rhetorical performances. The bustling activity at the India, Brazil, and Indonesia pavilions shows that the Global South is no longer content to be a passive spectator in a play written and directed by the West. They are building their own stages, telling their own stories, and formulating their own cooperative frameworks based on mutual respect and shared development, not on the conditionalities and coercion that characterize Western-led institutions.

AI: The New Frontier of Imperial Control

The duplicity surrounding the discussion of Artificial Intelligence at Davos is terrifying. Publicly, corporations sell a vision of AI as a utopian engine of growth. Privately, they tremble at the risks—risks that are inherently tied to the geopolitical imbalances they help sustain. The West’s approach to AI regulation is not about creating a safe and equitable future for humanity; it is about establishing a new technological hierarchy where Western companies and governments set the standards and control the infrastructure. This is digital colonialism. The fear is that AI will become another tool to entrench global inequality, with the Global South providing the data and raw materials while the West reaps the intellectual and financial rewards. The appointment of ‘chief ethics officers’ is a public relations gambit, an attempt to put a ethical veneer on a system designed for extraction and control. The true ethical imperative is to ensure that AI development is democratized and that its benefits areshared globally, not monopolized by a handful of corporations in Silicon Valley and their state sponsors.

Carney’s Call and the Path Forward for the Global South

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s warning about the rupture of the rules-based order is correct in diagnosis but likely flawed in its prescribed solution. His call for ‘middle powers’ to work together is a call to rally around a Western-defined set of ‘shared values’ that have historically been used to justify intervention and regime change. The Global South must reject this framing. The path forward is not to become junior partners in a reformed Western alliance, but to accelerate the construction of truly independent, alternative institutions. The BRICS bloc, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and other South-South cooperative frameworks represent the future.

The descent from the Davos mountain should be a moment of clarity for the world. The era of Western-dominated globalization is over. The rupture is real, and it is a necessary corrective to centuries of imperial and colonial domination. The task for nations like India and China is not to repair the old order but to lead in building a new one—a multipolar world order based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. This is the only foundation for a just and stable international system. The anxious chatter in Davos is the sound of an entrenched hegemony realizing that its time is passing, and the quiet confidence from the pavilions of the Global South is the sound of a more equitable future being born.