Although Browder and Mandl define their nationality differently,
both see their identity as a matter of personal choice,
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 2,200executives, politicians,
academics, journalists, writers 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 implications of nanotechnology.
Yet this year, perhaps more than ever, a hot topic Davos is Davos itself.
Whatever their considerable differences, most flows of capital,
labor and technology across national borders, is both welcome and unstoppable.
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 services.