The Roundtable: The Big Question of 2024
Editor's Note: Welcome to our monthly roundtable discussion. For our final conversation of the year, our editors are looking back at the major events of 2024 to debate the year's central theme. This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Yonghyuk Choi: So, as we wrap up 2024, I want to pose a big-picture question to the group. We've seen a wave of surprising election results, from India to the UK to the US. We've seen the world of sports and technology completely upended by new forces. If you had to define a single, overriding theme for the year, what would it be? For me, it feels like the year the established players lost control. The old champions, the old certainties—they all seemed to falter.
Minwoo Jung: I think that's exactly right, Yonghyuk, and I would frame it in geopolitical terms. 2024 was the year the post-Cold War order, already on life support, was finally taken off the ventilator. The US election was the culminating event, but the signs were everywhere. The humbling of Modi's BJP in India, the collapse of the Conservatives in the UK, the surge of the far-right in the European Parliament—all of it points to a deep dissatisfaction with the centrist, globalist consensus that has governed for the last 30 years. It was a year of populist and nationalist reckonings.
Saerom Kim: I see that, but from a cultural perspective, I'd frame it a little differently. It felt like the year of the "great disconnect." There was a profound gap between the stories the establishments were telling and the reality people were living. In the US, the Biden administration was talking about a strong economy, but people were feeling the pain of inflation. In India, the BJP was talking about national pride, but people were worried about jobs. It was the year that voters and consumers loudly and clearly said to the people in charge: you are not listening to us.
Anthony Min: And the financial markets were a perfect reflection of that disconnect and the resulting uncertainty. It was a year of incredible volatility. We saw the Indian market crash on a political surprise. We saw global supply chains thrown into chaos by the Red Sea crisis. We saw the US market whipsaw based on the latest election polls. The big theme from a financial perspective was the return of political risk as a primary driver of market behavior. The era of stable globalization that allowed markets to ignore politics is over.
Yehee Jung: I agree with all of that, but I see an underlying theme that connects them. For me, 2024 was the year we were confronted with the failure of our systems to deal with complex, long-term problems. Our political systems are failing to address the deep-seated anger that is fueling populism. Our global public health systems are still unprepared for the next pandemic. And our international system was completely unable to prevent or resolve the devastating wars in Ukraine and Gaza. It was a year that exposed the deep inadequacy of the institutions we have built to manage the crises we have created.
Minwoo Jung: That's a very good point, Yehee. And it's a deeply pessimistic one. It suggests that the problem isn't just the leaders, but the very structures of global and national governance.
Yonghyuk Choi: So, a year of reckonings, disconnects, and systemic failures. It sounds like we're all in agreement that it was a deeply turbulent year. The question heading into 2025 is whether this is the chaos that precedes a total collapse, or the painful but necessary disruption that leads to the creation of something new and better.
Final Thoughts
Yonghyuk Choi: 2024 was the year the underdogs and the insurgents, from the political arena to the business world, showed the old champions that their reign was no longer secure.
Anthony Min: It was the year that political risk came roaring back, reminding investors that spreadsheets and models are no match for the unpredictable will of the people.
Saerom Kim: It felt like a year of profound disconnection, where people around the world decided that the stories they were being told no longer matched the reality of their lives.
Yehee Jung: We spent the year witnessing the symptoms of our failing systems—from political polarization to global health crises—without ever truly addressing the underlying diseases.
Minwoo Jung: This was the year the post-war, US-led international order was shown to be a historical artifact, not a permanent condition.
What do you think? What was the most significant event or theme of 2024? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
