World Economic Forum

===Undemocratic decision making===
According to the [[European Parliamentary Research Service|European Parliament's think tank]], critics see the WEF as an instrument for political and business leaders to "take decisions without having to account to their electorate or shareholders".<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2016)573928 | title = The World Economic Forum: Influential and controversial | publisher = European Parliament Think Tank | date = 19 January 2016 | access-date = 19 May 2020 | archive-date = 21 October 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201021005028/https://europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2016)573928 | url-status = live }}</ref>

Since 2009, the WEF has been working on a project called the Global Redesign Initiative (GRI), which proposes a transition away from intergovernmental decision-making towards a system of [[multi-stakeholder governance]]. According to the [[Transnational Institute|Transnational Institute (TNI)]], the Forum is hence planning to replace a recognised democratic model with a model where a self-selected group of "stakeholders" make decisions on behalf of the people.<ref name="Davos and its danger to Democracy">{{cite web | url = https://www.tni.org/en/article/davos-and-its-danger-to-democracy | title = Davos and its danger to Democracy | publisher = Transnational Institute | date = 18 January 2016 | access-date = 17 August 2021 | archive-date = 17 August 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210817095449/https://www.tni.org/en/article/davos-and-its-danger-to-democracy | url-status = live }}</ref>

Some critics have seen the WEF's attention to goals like [[environmental protection]] and [[social entrepreneurship]] as mere window dressing to disguise its true [[plutocracy|plutocratic]] nature and goals.<ref name="Meyer">{{Cite web |last=Meyer |first=Frank A. |date=26 May 2021 |url=https://www.cicero.de/wirtschaft/meinungsherrschaft-ziemlich-verstiegen |title=Meinungsherrschaft – Ziemlich verstiegen |website=Cicero Online |language=de |access-date=12 August 2021 |archive-date=12 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812143340/https://www.cicero.de/wirtschaft/meinungsherrschaft-ziemlich-verstiegen |url-status=live }}</ref> In a ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' opinion piece, Cas Mudde said that such plutocrats should not be the group to have control over the political agendas and decide which issues to focus on and how to support them.<ref name="-Mudde">{{cite web |last=Mudde |first=Cas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/25/davos-world-economic-forum-capitalism-plutocracy |title=The high priests of plutocracy all meet at Davos. What good can come from that? |website=[[The Guardian]] |date=25 January 2020 |access-date=24 September 2021 |archive-date=24 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924150239/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/25/davos-world-economic-forum-capitalism-plutocracy |url-status=live }}</ref> A writer in the German magazine ''[[Cicero (magazine)|Cicero]]'' saw the situation as academic, cultural, media and economic elites grasping for social power while disregarding political decision processes. A materially well-endowed milieu would in this context try to "cement its dominance of opinion and sedate ordinary people with maternalistic-paternalistic social benefits, so that they are not disturbed by the common people when they steer".<ref name="Meyer"/> The French ''[[Les Echos (France)|Les Echos]]'' furthermore concludes that Davos "represents the exact values people rejected at the ballot box".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lesechos.fr/2017/01/davos-un-forum-remis-en-question-159369|title=Davos : un forum remis en question ?|date=18 January 2017|website=Les Echos|language=fr|access-date=15 August 2021|archive-date=15 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815091055/https://www.lesechos.fr/2017/01/davos-un-forum-remis-en-question-159369|url-status=live}}</ref>