Launch of the Munich Security Report 2021

Titled “Between States of Matter – Competition and Cooperation”, the Munich Security Report 2021 will be launched at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin on June 9, 2021 at 9 a.m. (CEST).

The event will be held in German and will be streamed live on our website as well as on our Twitter and YouTube accounts. Ambassador Prof. Wolfgang Ischinger, the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), and Dr. Tobias Bunde, MSC's Director of Research & Policy will introduce this year's edition of the Munich Security Report. The brief presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.

The Munich Security Report (MSR) 2021 is published ahead of the G7 and NATO summits and 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 Conference’s 2021 flagship report raises questions 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. This year´s edition of the MSR features a range of exclusive, previously unpublished data curated by the MSC and international partner organizations, including the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), the International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.

The report and accompanying materials will be available for download here from June 9 onwards.

Since its first edition in 2015, the Munich Security Report 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. While the coronavirus pandemic has prevented a regular Munich Security Conference in 2021, it cannot and must not impede the vibrant conversation on core challenges to international security that our events are known to inspire. The MSC therefore decided to nevertheless publish a MSR to keep the discussion going and to pave the road for a debate regarding the transatlantic cooperation.

Over the coming weeks, the MSC will feature highlights of the report as well as exclusive commentary by its authors on the MSC website and via its social media channels on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Follow us at @MunSecConf and share with us your thoughts on the report’s findings by using the hashtags #MSCreport and #StatesOfMatter.