World Economic Forum

Based in Davos, Switzerland, and incorporated as a nonprofit foundation in 1971, the motto of the World Economic Forum is “entrepreneurship in the global public interest.” Seeking to develop a next-generation regime in which values are as important a basis as rules, it links social development and economic progress as essential to sustainability. In the process, since the beginning of this millennium, the forum has found it necessary to integrate religious perspectives into governance agendas.

Faith communities are now integrated into the structures through the Global Agenda Council on Faith as well as through the Community of Global Religious Leaders and the Benchmarking Series. In doing so, the forum provides a basis to consider religion in association with conventional economic matters such as industry and politics. Discussions at the Summit on the Global Agenda, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (November 2008) highlighted the status of religion on the global agenda. The council proposed that religion can contribute to business, society, and conflict prevention and peace building.

In December 2009, in collaboration with the Neilsen Company and Georgetown University, the forum conducted an opinion poll in 10 countries over Facebook. The respondents were from France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States. Of the more than 130,000 respondents over [Page 1382]the age of 18 years, almost 80% were under 30. The questions were intended to determine personal values, the sources of the values, and the role of the same values in global economic and governance systems.

More than two thirds of the people who responded to the poll believe that the current economic crisis is also a crisis of ethics and values. Only 54% of the respondents believe that universal values exist; religion and faith are most likely to affect values in the United States, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa. Only 18% of the participants aged 18–23 selected this as the primary source of their values. A detailed discussion of the poll on values and ethics appears in Part 1 of the May 2010 report, titled “Faith and the Global Agenda: Values for the Post-Crisis Economy.” Part 2 of the same report provides “Perspectives From Global Religious Leaders.” The council encourages a fundamental rethinking of moral and regulatory frameworks and promotes global interconnectedness and a more communitarian spirit.

The statements from several religious leaders provide comments from their traditions. The information they provide is intended to contribute to the values of interconnectedness and community. The plurality of religious resources also reflects the commitment to a multistakeholder process in tackling global challenges.

With the capacity for and interest in multiple discourses, an initial dialogue and cooperation between Islam and the West has commenced through the Community of West and Islam Dialogue (C-100). The first of a series of benchmarking reports commenced in 2008 and focused on the state of dialogue between Islam and the West.

Community partners and supporters include His Royal Highness Prince Hussam bin Saud bin Abdulaziz al Saud, Saudi Arabia; The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the United States; and Xenel Group, Saudi Arabia. Participants include 1,000 member companies that typically are enterprises each with more than $5 billion in turnover, strategic partner companies, industry partner companies, and event partner companies.

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