Mark Carney made everyone sit up and pay attention at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, telling world leaders and business bigwigs that the old, US-led rules-based world order is… gone. For good.
The Canadian prime minister and former Bank of England governor said the era of predictable alliances and automatic protections is over. His advice to so-called “middle powers” (countries that aren’t superpowers but still matter) was simple: work together, be ambitious, and stop clinging to the old way of doing things.
Or, as he put it: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
Carney didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, but his bulldozing of the international order and embrace of might over right loomed large over the gathering.
For South Africa and other middle powers, Carney’s message hits home.
The country “would be well advised to tuck in behind the position that Carney has struck – principled and pragmatic, forging alliances and solidarity amidst the ‘middle powers’,” said political analyst and author Richard Calland. Veteran foreign correspondent Peter Fabricius added it was a better fit than “staying the course with a BRICS bloc that will probably only get more problematic as it expands, and which Trump, incidentally, has already threatened to hit with punitive tariffs”.
Other experts say the country is a natural fit for this new world order because Mzansi is no stranger to shocks and volatility. Over the last three decades, South Africa has persisted through economic crises and political upheavals, along with rapid social and market changes.
But our country will be handicapped in this new landscape by “domestic dysfunction”, added human rights lawyer Nicole Fritz, while others warned that aligning with brutal regimes like Iran and Russia weakens potential partnerships with other middle powers.
So, the takeaway from Davos? The world is changing fast, the old playbook is obsolete, and if countries want to stay in the game, they’d better get creative, cooperative, and a little bit bold.
