Is this a bad time to meet?

London

OVER 2,500 leaders from business, government, international organisations, civil society, academia, media and the arts are gathering in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Jan 20-23. This year's WEF comes at a time of intensified concern about the state of the world economy, yet what is less appreciated are growing fears about rising political risk too.

Indeed, a quarter of a century after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a recent research report from Citi asserts that geopolitical risks are at a 25-year high in the most fluid global political environment in decades. This conclusion is echoed by the WEF's Global Risks Report 2016, produced with partners including Marsh McLennan and Zurich Insurance Group. According to John Drzik, president of Marsh Global Risk and Specialities, "events such as Europe's refugee crisis and terrorist attacks have raised global political instability to its highest level since the Cold War".