The global elite are meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week for their annual shindig but, as Donald Trump waits to be inaugurated as US President, the world's power-brokers are struggling to come up with answers to the rise of 'populism'.

The global economy is in better shape than it has been in years, stock markets are booming, the oil prices are on the rise again and the risks of a rapid economic slowdown in China have eased.

But incumbent leaders and established political parties are taking a pounding in opinion polls, especially in Europe, where the National Front's Marine Le Pen is ahead in the race to become France's next President.

The political leaders, CEOs and top bankers at the World Economic Forum, which starts tomorrow, have been left scratching their heads.

Moises Naim, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said: 'There is a consensus that something huge is going on, global and in many respects unprecedented. But we don't know what the causes are, nor how to deal with it.'

World leaders, CEOs and bankers are in Davos, Switzerland (pictured) this week for the World Economic Forum

The global financial crisis of 2008/9 and the migrant crisis of 2015/16 exposed the impotence of politicians, deepening public disillusion and pushing people towards populists who offered simple explanations and solutions.

Trump will be inaugurated on Friday, the final day of the forum, and his name is bound to be at the forefront of the attendees' minds all week.

Last year the consensus at Davos was that Trump had no chance of being nominated, let alone elected.

But then the global elite also never dreamed Britain would vote to leave the European Union.

The election of Donald Trump (pictured, left) came as a huge shock to the global elite and now they are bracing themselves for a possible victory by Marine Le Pen (right) in France

Both votes, and numerous other mini-shocks around the world, have shaken the principles the WEF attendees have long held dear - globalisation, free trade and multilateralism.

Trump is the poster child for a new strain of virulent populism that is spreading across the developed world and threatening the post-war liberal democratic order.

With elections looming in France, Holland and Germany the nervousness among Davos attendees is palpable. Italy might also go to the polls and in all four countries populist parties are expected to do well against the 'old order'.

Armed Swiss police, in Alpine gear, keep an eye on the summit venue amid heightened fears of a terrorist attack

Jean-Marie Guehenno, CEO of the International Crisis Group, said: 'Regardless of how you view Trump and his positions, his election has led to a deep, deep sense of uncertainty and that will cast a long shadow over Davos.'

Among the debate topics at Davos are 'Politics of Fear or Rebellion of the Forgotten?', 'Squeezed and Angry: How to Fix the Middle Class Crisis' and 'Tolerance at the Tipping Point?'

The star attraction will be Xi Jinping, the first Chinese president ever to attend Davos.

His presence is being seen as a sign of Beijing's growing weight in the world at a time when Trump is promising a more insular 'America first' approach and Europe is pre-occupied with its own troubles, from Brexit to terrorism.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, taking a break from the headache of preparing for Brexit, will also be in Switzerland.

But Germany's Angela Merkel, a Davos regular, will be absent as she seeks to fight off the challenge from the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, which seeks to paint her as a politician in cahoots with Big Business at the expense of the ordinary herr or frau.

China's President Xi Jinping (pictured, right with Switzerland's President Doris Leuthard) has been invited to attend Davos, the first time Beijing has been represented by its head of state

A WEF report on global risks released before Davos highlighted 'diminishing public trust in institutions' and said rebuilding faith in the political process and leaders would be a 'difficult task'.

Guy Standing, the author of several books on the new 'precariat' - people who lack job security and reliable earnings - believes more people are coming around to the idea that free-market capitalism needs to be overhauled, including those that have benefited most from it.

Mr Standing, who has been invited to Davos for the first time, said: 'The mainstream corporate types don't want Trump and far-Right authoritarians. They want a sustainable global economy in which they can do business. More and more of them are sensible enough to realise that they have over-reached.'

The World Economic Forum is often perceived from the outside as a shindig where the global elite get together and agree how they can carve up the world and the profits that are to be had

But Ian Bremmer, president of US political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said: 'If you want to find people who are going to rally together and say capitalism is fundamentally broken, Davos is not the place to go.'

Suma Chakrabarti, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, says a 'modern version of globalisation' is possible but acknowledges it will take time to emerge.

'It is going to be a long haul in persuading a lot of people that there is a different approach. But you don't have to throw the baby out with the bath water,' he said.

Some attendees believe the pace of technological change and the complex nature of the global economy have made it more difficult for leaders to shape and control events, let alone reconfigure the global system.