The World Economic Forum Shows Globalism Is Dead – and Trump’s Return Explains Why

2026-01-25 - 21:07

Each year, hundreds of world leaders and institutional elites gather in Davos, Switzerland for a five-day summit where speakers and power brokers discuss how to make the world a better place. In practice, however, these conversations rarely escape the elitist echo chamber in which they are formed, and most people go about their day to day not even realizing this forum is even taking place. That all changed this year. With President Trump back at the helm, Davos became a focal point of global attention as news outlets, analysts, and policymakers closely followed remarks that directly challenged decades of globalist orthodoxy. Trump did not simply criticize the inefficiencies of international institutions; he signaled a fundamental shift away from them. The announcement of the newly established Board of Peace marked a turning point, offering a glimpse into what is replacing the old globalist model rather than merely opposing it. Globalism Was Never Going To Work The failures and limits of globalism and collectivism were bound to be exposed sooner or later. Institutions like the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the World Economic Forum accumulated influence throughout the years without real legal enforcement, authority without real accountability, and moral language without real leverage. In moments of stability, this arrangement appeared functional, some may argue even “neutral”. In moments of crisis, the institutions that shaped countless political science careers and degrees simply collapsed. The COVID-19 pandemic, prolonged conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, global supply chain breakdowns, the persistence of terrorism, and the unwillingness of international institutions to consistently confront authoritarian regimes, often while granting them continued legitimacy through global boards and forums, revealed a central flaw. Global institutions have always been very good at hosting meetings and issuing statements. But what they consistently failed to do was act, each and every time something major happened. They could not enforce compliance, respond with urgency, or produce real results when it mattered most– they realistically lacked legal enforcement beyond the laws already established within each sovereign nation-state. As crises mounted, countries stopped waiting for the globalists to take action, so they either acted on their own or continued with their unsustainable status quo. Supply chains were broken and/or rebuilt. Borders were enforced. National security interests took priority over hollow consensus. Globalism became slowly sidelined as nations realized it no longer worked. President Trump’s return to the national and global stage reflects that shift. He isn’t trying to fix globalism, he’s replacing it by making it obsolete. The Board of Peace and a New Model of Governance While the Board of Peace does not seek to formally replace the United Nations, it exposes the limitations of the existing system.The establishment of the Board of Peace marks a deliberate break from