Davos: A Local History of Globalization (David McClure Visiting Fellowship Lecture 2026)

We welcome Dr Caitlín Doherty to speak as the inaugural David McClure Visiting Fellow.

Davos is shorthand for a form of capitalism—global, technocratic, self-avowedly progressive—whose moment has now passed. It is also the name of a town in Switzerland. The history of the World Economic Forum and that of the location in which it is held are rarely, if ever, discussed in the same breath. Yet the successes of the WEF’s political and economic programme, which for nearly half a century both encapsulated and advanced the ideology of capitalist globalization, cannot be grasped without studying its place of origin.

In this talk, Dr Doherty will present research from her forthcoming book, the completion of which is supported by the David McClure Fellowship. She will argue that the town, the Canton of Graubünden, and the Swiss Confederation together provided essential conditions and key opportunities for the entry of American multinational corporations into European markets during the Cold War, and for Western control of the post-Warsaw Pact international order. Neutrality; ‘banking secrecy’; Alpine cultures of personal liberty and political independence; literary, philosophical and artistic avant gardes; revolutionary advances in medical and climate sciences all play a part in this story, which uses local history to explain shifts in the structures of global power.

Meet our speaker:

Caitlín Doherty is a reporter and critic. She studied English Literature and the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and is a member of the Editorial Committee of New Left Review. Her work focuses on European politics, economics, technology and culture.

Meet our chair:

Vladislav Zubok is professor of international history, with expertise on the Cold War, the Soviet Union, Stalinism, and Russia’s intellectual history in the 20th century. Among his books are: Collapse. The Fall of the Soviet Union (2021), The Idea of Russia: The Life and Work of Dmitry Likhachev (2017), Dmitry Likhachev. The Life and the Century (in Russian, 2016) A Failed Empire: the Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2007) and Zhivago’s Children: the Last Russian Intelligentsia (2009). His most recent book is: The World of the Cold War (2025), published by Penguin Books. He is the current Head of Department (Department of International History, LSE) and Stevenson Professor of International History.

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