MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev)
He is not French President Nicolas Sarkozy, although he acts as the patron of the first World Policy Conference underway in Evian.
He is Thierry de Montbrial, director of the French foreign affairs institute IFRI and a distinguished participant in the Valdai Discussion Club, which this year will discuss the 21st century international geopolitical revolution and Russia's role in it.
Montbrial created the Evian forum just as Swiss economist and businessman Klaus Martin Schwab founded the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1971. But Montbrial's aspiration is to make the Evian forum a more effective institution. He is convinced that globalization is a dying process and that world leaders should search for an alternative solution.
The annual summit will serve as a platform to debate issues concerning humanity. It was created seemingly with ease, as if by the wave of a magic wand, but actually it took months of preparation to ensure the attendance of 20 global leaders and a large group of politicians.
Top leaders from Estonia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Croatia, Serbia, Mongolia and Luxembourg, as well as the WTO director and the NATO secretary general convened in Evian on October 6. This was not a random list, and neither were the issues chosen for roundtable discussions at random. Africa, Japan and India are the regions whose future is unclear, but whose influence will be felt by the rest of the world.
Apart from political leaders, the Evian summit will be attended by intellectual heavyweights, including former ministers (Igor Ivanov, a former foreign minister, will represent Russia) and prominent researchers, such as Yusuf Wanandi, co-founder of the Jakarta-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia's most successful foreign affairs think tank.
French President Sarkozy and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will speak on Wednesday, the last day of the conference.
Business and economic intellectuals gather in Davos to discuss economic problems jointly with the economic leaders of their countries and the international organizations. The ideas expressed in Davos in January work throughout the rest of the year on a global scale.
The only analogue of the Swiss forum is the annual APEC conference of leaders of the largest corporations of Asia-Pacific countries, who mostly talk behind closed doors. But that is a regional, not a global economic forum.
Davos has so far not had a political analogue, apart from one week in September when the world's top leaders or their foreign ministers convene for a UN General Assembly. But the large number of their much-too-serious, bureaucratic speeches made once a year to "synchronize" approaches is boring. The few undiplomatic and unorthodox addresses by the leaders of Iran or Venezuela do not contain any new ideas either.
That situation could be tolerated yesterday, but is quite inadmissible today. The world is facing radical change, which calls for radical ideas and their discussion at the top level. Changes must not be allowed to proceed of their own volition, hitting the unsuspecting world population as tsunamis. In the 21st century, the world should learn to govern change.
What we have is ungovernable international relations and lack of sound minds, because election-based democracy does not allow for the nomination of truly exceptional people to leading posts, which is why we have mediocre bureaucrats for presidents who refuse to irritate their voters for fear of losing the next election. At least this is what often happens in the U.S. and Europe.
This is only one, but very serious, global problem.
What is the state of the world? Where is the world going? What can be done to better the world? This year's conference will consider these questions.
Economists don't know the answers; they only propose measures for reviving the financial sector during emergencies. What can this result in? Socialism, as Sarkozy has said?
International politics is a much more difficult issue. Strangely, some countries recall the Cold War era with a kind of nostalgia. Nobody liked the balance of fear and the bipolar security system, but it was effective and the Soviet Union and the U.S., once they agreed on a problem, honored their commitments.
But after it ended, Washington tried creating its own, "American" world, which resulted in catastrophe where the ongoing financial crisis is the last link in a chain of dramatic events.
Meanwhile, the emerging countries, such as China and India, have been growing increasingly influential. They are not ready to assume the role of global leaders yet and so far accept their limitations.
Also, Europe and the U.S. have failed to turn Russia into a "greater Bosnia," a Western protectorate promised a seat in the big European family some time in the future.
Muslim countries and Africa do not help strengthen global stability either.
The World Policy Conference will be looking to establish a triangular system to manage the world based on politicians, intellectuals and business leaders. But will it be able to bring order to our chaotic and dangerous world?
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
