::
Growing, Growing ... Gone? China's under control, Europe's finally reforming, and the global economic outlook is rosy, right? Not quite
::
Follow The Stars Forget politicians and titans of industry — celebs like Bono, Sharon Stone and Angelina Jolie set the agenda at the World Economic Forum
::
Davos Identity Have business élites lost touch with their national roots? The WEF annual meeting in Davos this week crystallizes the debate over globalization
EASY APPROACH: A Davos familiy passes the Congress Center in the Swiss ski resort
In Search of Davos Man
As business leaders gather in Davos for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting, they're under attack. Does globalization hurt the folks back home? Are the élites out of touch?
Posted Sunday, January 23, 2005; 11:27 GMT William F. Browder was born in Princeton, New Jersey, grew up in Chicago, and studied at Stanford University in California. But don't call him an American. For the past 16 of his 40 years he has lived outside the U.S., first in London and then, from 1996, in Moscow, where he runs his own investment firm, Hermitage Capital Management. Browder now manages $1.6 billion in assets and has made a name for himself locally by campaigning against opaque and corrupt business practices at Russian companies. In 1998 he gave up his American passport to become a British citizen, since his life is now centered in Europe. "National identity makes no difference for me," he says. "I feel completely international. If you have four good friends and you like what you are doing, it doesn't matter where you are. That's globalization."
Alex J. Mandl is also a fervent believer in globalization, but he views himself very differently. A veteran telecommunications executive and former president of AT&T, Mandl, 61, was born in Austria and now runs a French technology company called Gemplus International, which is doing more and more business in China.
He reckons he spends about 90% of his time traveling on business. But despite all that globetrotting, Mandl who has been a U.S. citizen for 45 years still identifies himself as an American. "I see myself as American without any hesitation. The fact that I spend a lot of time in other places doesn't change that," he says.
Although Browder and Mandl define their nationality differently, both see their identity as a matter of personal choice, not an accident of birth. And not incidentally, both are Davos Men members of the international business élite who trek each year to the Swiss Alpine town for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), founded in 1971. This week, Browder and Mandl will join more than 2,200 executives, politicians, academics, journalists, writers and a handful of Hollywood stars for five days of networking, parties and endless earnest discussions about everything from postelection Iraq and hiv in Africa to the global supply of oil and the implications of nanotechnology. Yet this year, perhaps more than ever, a hot topic at Davos is Davos itself. Whatever their considerable differences, most Davos Men and Women share at least one belief: that globalization the unimpeded flows of capital, labor and technology across national borders is both welcome and unstoppable. They see the world increasingly as one vast, interconnected marketplace in which corporations search for the most advantageous locations to buy, produce and sell their goods and services.
As borders and national identities become less important, some find that threatening and even dangerous. In an essay last year in The National Interest entitled "Dead Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite," Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington described Davos Man (a phrase that first got widespread attention in the 1990s) as an emerging global superspecies and a threat. The members of this class, he wrote, are people who "have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the élite's global operations." Huntington argues that Davos Man's global-citizen self-image is starkly at odds with the values of most Americans, who remain deeply committed to their nation. This disconnect, he says, creates "a major cultural fault line In a variety of ways, the American establishment, governmental and private, has become increasingly divorced from the American people."
While his essay (and a subsequent book, Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity) focused on the U.S., Huntington says his point is equally valid elsewhere. "The disconnect in other countries is greater because, to a much larger extent, the populace doesn't share these values," especially in non-Western societies, he told Time . The implications of this for business, public policy and society are profound. If individuals feel no loyalty to any particular country, they could eventually seek to avoid paying taxes in a particular jurisdiction. They might become increasingly disinterested and withdraw from their local communities. And their business decisions could even be harmful to their countrymen.
Some say they already are. Among people who aren't Davos Men and Women that is, the overwhelming majority of the world's population a backlash against the global élite can already be seen. In the U.S., it has taken the form of a vociferous debate about the outsourcing of call centers and technology jobs to Asia. In Continental Europe, it's giving rise to new anxieties about a loss of economic and political control; in just the past few days, the Italian government and its central bank agreed to bar foreign takeovers of Italian banks, and the French daily Le Monde ran a front-page article fretting about a Chinese firm's purchase of a leading French perfume store chain.
:: Building Bridges Feb. 08, 2001
Much of Davos was devoted to closing the gap between the technology haves and have-nots
:: Doubts At Davos Jan. 27, 2003
At 2003's World Economic Forum meeting, misgivings about America are the talk of the town
:: What The World Needs Now Jan. 19, 2004
Smaller nations have the chance to put poverty, AIDS and the environment back on the table
:: Voices Of A New Generation Jan. 19, 2003
Eight young leaders with huge hopes for Europe and big ideas about how to make a difference.
:: Rotten At The Core? Jan. 27, 2004
Germany and France have always driven E.U. integration, but smaller states say Berlin and Paris should move over
::
The War On PovertyApr. 15, 2003
In office just two months, President Lula da Silva and his team have begun to tackle inequality in Brazil
::
Can't Stand The Heat Mar. 22, 2001
Global warming is making many winter-sports lovers hot under the collar
Mogadishu at 60 Miles an Hour Arms merchants are once again doing brisk business after a rapid change of power in this tough town, but so far the peace has held
The Year of The Nuke A rundown of the world's nuclear powerhouses, and what to expect in the coming months
William F. Browder was born in Princeton, New Jersey, grew up in Chicago, and studied at Stanford University in California. But don't call him an American. For the past 16 of his 40 years he has lived outside the U.S., first in London and then, from 1996, in Moscow, where he runs his own investment firm, Hermitage Capital Management. Browder now manages $1.6 billion in assets and has made a name for himself locally by campaigning against opaque and corrupt business practices at Russian companies. In 1998 he gave up his American passport to become a British citizen, since his life is now centered in Europe. "National identity makes no difference for me," he says. "I feel completely international. If you have four good friends and you like what you are doing, it doesn't matter where you are. That's globalization." 
has been a U.S. citizen for 45 years still identifies himself as an American. "I see myself as American without any hesitation. The fact that I spend a lot of time in other places doesn't change that," he says. 
