A new ‘Davos’

This year’s A-list gathering at the WEF 2026 had a pall of gloom over it and several questions on its current relecance

- SHUTAPA PAUL THE WRITER IS AN AUTHOR AND MEDIA ENTREPRENEUR

Institutions once central to global stability—such as the United Nations and NATO—are increasingly seen as constrained by vetoes, geopolitics and internal contradictions

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos has long been viewed as an elite gathering of the richest in the world. For years, its had an aura about it

But in this increasingly uncertain world where bullies pose as world leaders, the event has been losing much of its sheen. Two decades ago, as a rookie journalist, I watched amazed as the best from our brethren were handpicked to cover the much-coveted event. Donning fashionable winter coats and facing heavy snowfall, India’s premium business journalists made many an India Inc. friend at the town nestled in the Swiss Alps. Yours truly, while interviewing iconic leaders and watershed events, was almost always deployed to cover deprivation. Looking back, I think it made me a better journalist; I know it made me an evolved person. But at that time, who didn’t want to be part of a news story that looked more like a paid European ski vacation?