Although Brower and Mandl define their nationality differently,both see their identify as a matter
of personalchoice,not an accident of birth.
And not incidentally,both are Davos Men,members of the international business elite who trek each
year to the Swiss Alpine town for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum,founded in 1971.
This week,Browder and Mandl will join more than 2200 executives,politicians,academics,journalists,
writes and a handful of Hollywood stars for five days of networking,parties and endless earnest
discussions about everything from post-election Iraq and HIV in Africa to the global supply of oil
and the inplications of nanotechnology.
Yet this year,perhaps more than ever,a hot topic at Davos is Davos itself.
Whatever their considerable defferences,most Davos Men and Women share at least one belief: that
globalization,the unimpeded flows of capital,labor and techology across national borders,is both
welcome and unstopped.
They see the world increasingly as one vast,interconnected marketplace in which corporations search
for the most advantageous locations to buy,produce and sell their goods and servies.