Author: Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret
Year of Publication: 2022
Page Count: 253
Over the past several years we have been hearing more and more about Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum (WEF). For those of us who are very concerned about his brand of globalism and the influence that the WEF is exerting throughout the world, what we’ve been hearing has not been reassuring. But in order to truly understand where people like Klaus Schwab really stand, it is always preferable to go to the source itself rather than relying on second-hand information and the interpretations of third parties.
In 2019, Schwab and his co-author Thierry Malleret published Covid-19: The Great Reset. The Great Narrative: For a Better Future (2022, 253 pages) builds on the foundation of that previous work, and is the fruit of a series of interviews with “fifty of the world’s foremost global thinkers and opinion makers.” The Great Narrative, as its title suggests, presents the WEF’s understanding of the state of the world, the problems that must be addressed, and the goals which the nations of the world should be working to achieve. “Narratives,” Schwab (or Malleret) writes, “shape our perceptions, which in turn form our realities and end up influencing our choices and actions. They are how we find meaning in life.”
In a brief review it isn’t possible to delve into the many aspects of the narrative that Schwab and his compatriots are promoting. But the very definition of “narrative” that they provide already says a great deal about what they are attempting to accomplish in this work. Our perceptions are shaped by narratives, the stories we use to explain our worldview. And, Schwab says, it is our perceptions which form our realities. In other words, it’s all a matter of interpretation. Reality, given this definition, cannot be something absolute, unchanging, and definable. It is something that we create, not an objective state of affairs to which we must adapt ourselves. We are shapers of reality, and it is the narrative that we hold to that shapes how we live. Despite Schwab’s mistaken notion about the nature of reality, he is correct in understanding the importance of the “grand narratives” that form our worldviews, and the way in which our actions find their source in our worldviews. He understands that narrative is vitally important, and thus he attempts to create a narrative that will lead people to accept his prescriptions for the government of international society and the lives of individuals.
Throughout this book, whether speaking about pandemics or climate change or geopolitical issues or the place of technology in society, Schwab often makes assertions that are not backed up by evidence, but are clearly meant to shape people’s thinking according to the “accepted wisdom” of this prevailing narrative. The book demands careful reading because the serious errors that Schwab commits are sometimes subtle, but have serious repercussions, especially because they have been echoed by so many on the world stage. The WEF may not have legislative power, but its “great narrative” has become the prevailing narrative, and expressions of dissent are being marginalized and even silenced in many corners.
The Great Narrative attacks the true narrative, the Word of God, the only place that the true meaning of life and true wisdom can be found. In so doing, it constructs a worldview that could only lead to disastrous results if put into practice. For this reason, while there’s no way I could recommend this book as a fount of legitimate wisdom, I believe that we need to familiarize ourselves with works of this type because of the influence that they have in shaping the attitudes and actions of many influential figures on the world stage.