Geo-Economics and Politics

6 questions for David Rubenstein: 'Democracy has to work harder'

What's next for the global economy and democracy? Let's know from David Rubenstein

What's next for the global economy and democracy? Let's know from David Rubenstein. Image: World Economic Forum

Gayle Markovitz
Head, Written and Audio Content, World Economic Forum
Natalie Marchant
Writer, Forum Stories
This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
  • The 2025 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum is taking place from 20-24 January in Davos, Switzerland.
  • Close to 3,000 participants from over 130 countries are taking part in the gathering, including David Rubenstein.
  • We spoke with Rubenstein about democracy, the global economy and what we can expect in 2025. Here's what he had to say.

Last year was a pivotal year for democracy and the global economy. This year, geopolitical and geo-economic developments are looking equally significant as new governments come to power, artificial intelligence revolutionizes workplaces and major conflicts persist.

Against this backdrop of uncertainty and change, thousands of decision-makers from around the world are gathering in Davos, Switzerland, for the 54th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. One of those participants is David Rubenstein, the co-chairman of the Carlyle Group.

As the events in Davos kicked-off — and as US President Trump prepared to take his second oath of office — we spoke with Rubenstein about democracy, the global economy and what to expect in 2025. Here's what he had to say.

Where is global democracy heading?

The world is polarized now between countries that value democracy and countries that don't value democracy. And obviously, in countries themselves, those that value democracy and those that don't value democracy, there are internal schisms as well.

We’ve seen in the United States a political comeback, the likes of which we've never seen before. In Europe, we've also seen gigantic changes ... Canada is going to have a new government soon. Mexico has a new government. Argentina has a new government.

So there's a lot of change in the world right now, and democracy has to work harder to make sure that people understand what it's all about and why it has some benefits.

I think we need to do a better job of explaining why letting people vote, letting people express their views, having freedom, equal opportunity are good values. And I think that’s going to be more difficult in the future because a lot of people don’t hold those views around the world. If you’re going to believe in democracy, you’ve got to work hard for it.

Do you think the shift towards global populism is a problem?

Populism is not anti-democratic because populism reflects what people want – presumably, assuming that you have fair elections. I think populism does reflect the fact that there is frustration with some of what has happened in some democracies.

So I think the fact that populism is rising in the US and in Europe, is something that people should have pause about. But people who are supporters of democracy should say, ‘If people are not happy with what you're doing, you should try something different.’

Have you read?

What is the US going to look like in 30 years?

I think that 30 years from now, it’s just too hard to predict where the world will be. Technology will change so much, as people change so much.

Thirty years ago, in 1995, the world was just beginning to experiment with the internet. We didn't have TV streaming. We didn't have so many things we have now. Artificial intelligence was a gleam in somebody's eye. We didn't have private companies doing space exploration.

So 30 years from today is too difficult to predict. But clearly technology is going to be much more on the march than maybe we even anticipated in 1995.

Right now, the US seems to be in a fairly dominant position and certainly in the Western world. Post the economic crisis of 2007/08 and post-COVID, the US has moved forward and bypassed Europe in terms of economic growth, in terms of financial stability and, I would say, in terms of technology development.

Will technology be the driver of geopolitical order?

In predicting the future, what people tend to do is extrapolate from the recent past. It's easy to say, well, technology's been dominant the last 10 years and changed the world, so therefore it'll happen over the next 10 years.

But the only thing we know for certain from world history is that things change in ways that people don't anticipate. So I can't tell you for certain that technology will be as dominant in the global economic sphere as it is today. But clearly technology's on the march, and I think companies and countries that don't recognize how technology is changing everything are going to be left behind.

What lessons can US leaders can draw from history?

Civilizations come and go. It’s not a given that the US will be a dominant country in 100 years from now. For example, the US was not a dominant country until really after World War II.

The United States has a lot of financial, technological and cultural edges...but also, we have the only reserve currency in the world, and it's rare that you only have one reserve currency at a time.

As long as the US has the only reserve currency in the world, its economic problems are not going to be as great as some people think they might be because of our deficits and debt. But if our reserve currency goes away and that status goes away, the debt and the deficit we have will be real challenges.

The top two lessons I think American leaders need to take from the past are: one, it’s not a given that we will be a leader in every area in the world forever, and secondly, we need to listen to what other countries are thinking about and listen intelligently.

It’s important that you listen to what other people say, because if you don’t listen to what other people say, you’re not going to get the sense of where the world is going. And the United States should be a good listener.

Where is the global economy is headed?

I think the global economy now is in reasonable shape, but the biggest challenge is fixing the damages caused by wars.

Hopefully the wars... will end in the near future, and hopefully we won’t have any more wars breaking out in the foreseeable future. There’s no limit to what humanity can accomplish if it’s working together peacefully.

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