Munich Security Report 2021 to be launched on June 9

This year’s edition of the Munich Security Conference’s flagship report, published ahead of the G7 and NATO summits, explores the challenge of navigating an international environment shaped by two “states of matter,” competition and cooperation. While competition has become the defining feature of world politics, the most critical threats to humanity – from climate change to arms races and the ongoing pandemic – require broad-based international cooperation. But competition and cooperation do not only coexist, they increasingly condition one another.

The Munich Security Report 2021 builds on questions raised by the MSC across publications and events throughout the past year – about the state of the West and the international order, growing competition between democratic and autocratic systems, and how the new transatlantic momentum can deliver concrete results. The report covers selected security issues that require concerted international action, such as arms control and the energy transition, as well as two regions at the center of growing geopolitical competition, the European neighborhood and the Indo-Pacific.

The Munich Security Report 2021 features a range of exclusive, previously unpublished data curated by the MSC and international partner organizations, including the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). At the heart of the report, the new Munich Security Index, built by the MSC and Kekst CNC, offers exclusive insights based on survey data from the G7 and BRICS countries, unveiling a backdrop of divided public opinion on many of the security challenges that can only be tackled through cooperation.

Since its first edition in 2015, the Munich Security Report (MSR) has compiled data, analyses, and maps to illustrate current security policy issues. The annual flagship report is traditionally published as a discussion starter for the Munich Security Conference in February and is targeted at an expert audience as well as the interested public. Special editions of the MSR offer deeper analyses of key actors, regions, or issues. While the coronavirus pandemic has so far prevented a regular Munich Security Conference, it cannot and must not impede the vibrant conversation on core challenges to international security that our events are known to inspire.

The Munich Security Report 2021 and accompanying materials will be available for download from June 9 here.

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