Conspiracy myths: Klaus Schwab, the WEF and the “Great Reset”

Klaus Schwab is the founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which invites high-ranking politicians and business representatives to a meeting in Davos every year. For conspiracy ideologues he is a hate figure – mainly because of a book.

“According to the WEF, we will soon only be allowed to walk or share a car at most, while the elites continue to fly around in their private jets and continue to make dark plans,” says a Telegram group. We are talking about the World Economic Forum (WEF), the world economic forum, which annually invites to a conference lasting several days in the small Swiss municipality of Davos.

Among the more than 2500 participants are political leaders, business representatives and non-governmental organizations. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have announced their attendance for this year.

But where so many influential people come together, conspiracy myths are not far away. There are numerous articles and videos on the Internet about how the WEF is pulling the strings in the background – there is always talk of “The Great Reset”. What’s it all about?

Breeding ground for conspiracy ideologies

The World Economic Forum was founded in 1971 by the German economist Klaus Schwab – at that time still under the name European Management Conference. It is financed by membership fees and public grants. According to the World Economic Forum, the aim is to “improve the state of the world”.

Conspiracy ideologues see it completely differently. According to them, Schwab wants to install a “new world order” with the WEF – in favor of the “elite” and at the expense of the “simple” population. “The motive that there is some form of an elite operating in secret is a fundamental motive in almost all conspiracy stories,” says Katharina Kleinen-von Königslöw, a professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication Studies at the University of Hamburg. “Then it changes who this elite is. Sometimes it’s the Jews, sometimes the Catholic Church, then it’s George Soros or now Klaus Schwab.”

Jan Rathje, Senior Researcher at CeMAS (Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy), is not surprised that the World Economic Forum provides fertile ground for conspiracy ideologues. “Large meetings of people who have power resources are particularly well suited as a target for conspiracy narratives because important political processes are negotiated there.” However, the contents of such meetings are much less explosive. “It’s not that people meet there to hatch a global conspiracy, but to discuss how the future could be shaped.”

The idea that the various participants in these meetings have the common interest in a global conspiracy is too simplistic. In addition, there are far too many people involved to be able to keep such a large conspiracy secret, says Kleinen-von Königslöw. “If so many people knew about it, it would have to become public at some point.” In addition, the list of participating state representatives publicly visiblethe meeting is not quite as secret as conspiracy ideologues often claim.

The idea of ​​the “Great Reset”

While meetings like the World Economic Forum have been the focus of conspiracy narratives for a long time, Klaus Schwab has only recently become a target – since June 2020, to be precise. Because that’s when he did it WEF initiative “The Great Reset” publicly. A short time later, his book of almost the same name, which he wrote together with the economist Thierry Malleret, was also published.

The idea behind the “Great Upheaval”, as the book is called on the German market: The Corona pandemic should be used as an opportunity to make societies and the global economy more just, social and ecologically sustainable. “Schwab’s finding is that there are major changes both on the economic and on the social level, for example because of the climate crisis or the digital surveillance options by governments,” says Matthias Diermeier, head of the cooperation cluster Democracy, Society and Market Economy at the German Economic Institute ( IW).

From this, Schwab derives what he considers a necessary devotion to so-called stakeholder capitalism. “Basically, it is a departure from the pure profit maximization of companies and also a departure from a purely economic maximization of the gross domestic product towards a broader view of business,” says Diermeier. “Then it’s no longer just about me earning as much as possible as a person, as a company or as a state, but rather that I do justice to these different stakeholder groups as far as possible.”

“Not an innovative idea”

The theory of stakeholder capitalism is nothing new in business administration. The approach of, for example, avoiding environmental damage or paying employees fairly in order to tame unregulated capitalism is similar to the concept of the social market economy, says political economist Diermeier.

The initiative by Klaus Schwab and the WEF is therefore significantly less progressive for Germany than for countries with a weaker welfare state such as the USA. According to Schwab, there is a danger that the de-industrialization of entire regions, accelerated by globalization, could lead to mass unemployment and a lack of prospects. “And according to Schwab, that can ultimately endanger democracy if anti-democratic forces try to exploit this dissatisfaction,” says Diermeier.

However, by installing social security systems and at the same time combating potential risks such as the climate crisis, Schwab believes that the danger could be prevented. “In essence, what Schwab is demanding is not an innovative idea,” says Diermeier. Universities and colleges have been teaching for a long time that the focus should not only be on maximizing profits when doing business. In the professional world, the book was therefore also received less strongly.

Sentences are taken out of context

According to communication scientist Kleinen-von Königslöw, the fact that the initiative of the WEF and the book nevertheless received such a great deal of attention, especially in conspiracy ideological circles, is also due to the time of publication. “There has long been the idea in circles that the ‘elite’ are working to introduce a ‘new world order’. The corona pandemic and the ‘Great Reset’ can be integrated very well into this conspiracy narrative.” For example, the WEF and Schwab are accused of merely inventing the pandemic in order to establish the “new world order”.

Because the book only contains very vague ideas overall, there is a lot of room for interpretation for conspiracy ideologues, says Kleinen-von Königslöw. “Then individual sentences are taken out of context and serve as supposed evidence for their own narrative.” Among other things, Schwab is accused of to ban driving. What he really wants is to promote car sharing, to save resources. In addition, the WEF cannot ban anything, after all it is just an organization. The WEF has also been wrongly associated with the demand Wanting to kill pets for climate protection.

“In a way, these stories also show that the entire process is viewed from behind,” says political scientist Rathje. “Because the conspiracy ideologues already believe that there is a single line of conflict between the ‘people’ and the ‘elite’, they interpret everything exactly on this scale. However, that politics is far more complex than simply bringing together a group of powerful people , who then all want the same thing, is completely ignored.” That is exactly what is typical of conspiracy ideologues, that they greatly reduce and simplify the complexity of political, social and historical processes.

Myths differ by country

The conspiracy myths surrounding Klaus Schwab and the WEF are spread by different milieus, says Rathje – from conspiracy ideology opponents of globalization to right-wing extremists. Also world-renowned actors of the New Right or the “lateral thinker” movement such as the Austrian Martin Sellner from the “Identitarian Movement” and AUF1 boss Stephan Magnet are among them, as well as the Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin and the former chief strategist of ex-US President Donald Trump, Steve Bannon.

The myths about the “Great Reset” differ depending on the country in which they are spread, says Diermeier from the IW. “In Germany and Europe, the accusation against Schwab is that we are now entering an age where neoliberalism is taking power. Where we will ultimately be controlled by corporations and have to give up our freedom.” In the US, on the other hand, Schwab would be accused of initiating socialism by demanding the expropriation of corporations.

“Conspiracy stories usually tie in with narratives that already exist anyway – dissatisfaction that can be activated and emotionalized,” says Diermeier. “And here in Europe, this narrative of the conspiracy of the elites in the form of neoliberal capitalism is relatively strong. In the USA, on the other hand, it is the fear that socialism could gain the upper hand.”

Almost a quarter believe in the influence of secret organizations

One also shows how compatible conspiracy stories about supposedly secret intrigues of the “elite” are Survey of the IW Cologne from the year 2021. Accordingly, 23 percent of those surveyed agreed fully or somewhat with the statement that there are secret organizations that have a major influence on political decisions. The fact that the media and politics are in cahoots was even met with approval by 26 percent.

One can certainly criticize globalization processes and the problems that arise as a result, says Rathje from CeMAS. Rule must even be allowed to be criticized in an open, liberal and democratic society. “The problem is only when the whole thing happens on an ideological basis.” In conspiracy stories, everything bad in the world is projected onto individuals like Klaus Schwab. In addition, all conspiracy ideologies would draw an apocalyptic worldview.

It could become dangerous if, as with the “Great Reset”, the “elites” are accused of wanting to use violence against the “people”. “Such extreme victim narratives can lead people to feel compelled to resort to violence to get rid of evil.”