Event Summary
MSC Kick-off 2025
In an increasingly "multipolarized" world, how can "depolarization" between states as well as within societies succeed? This is the central question of this year's Munich Security Report 2025, which was presented on February 10, 2025 at the Representation of Bavaria in Berlin. After Bavarian Minister of State Florian Herrmann welcomed the invited guests, Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), used the opening event to warm up the approximately 250 guests for the upcoming Munich Security Conference. Following the presentation of the Munich Security Report by Tobias Bunde, Director of Research & Policy, and Sophie Eisentraut, Head of Research & Publications at the MSC, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, gave a keynote speech in which he emphasized the need for comprehensive security. Heusgen then discussed the challenges and opportunities of "multipolarization" – both between states and within societies – with Louise Mushikiwabo, Maryem van den Heuvel, and Wang Huiyao.
"When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, we hoped for peace. But there have never been as many crises as there are today," said Heusgen in his welcoming speech, describing the geopolitical context of the upcoming 61st Munich Security Conference. True to established tradition, this year's MSC Kick-off was once again held at the Repre-sentation of Bavaria in Berlin with around 250 guests from the fields of politics, diplomacy, business, media, and academia. Following the presentation of the Munich Security Report 2025, Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary Gen-eral of the International Organisation of La Francophonie, Maryem van den Heuvel, Director General for Foreign Affairs, Enlargement, and Civil Protection at the Council of the European Union, and Wang Huiyao, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization, discussed the opportunities and risks of an increasingly multipolar world, possible reforms to the international order, and the future of multilateralism.
Power Shifts and Polarizing Ideologies – The Munich Security Report 2025
The Munich Security Report 2025 entitled "Multipolarization," which was presented as part of the Kick-off, is intended to provide impetus and inspiration for the debates at the 61st Munich Security Conference and serves as background reading for security experts as well as the wider public. The core question of this year's report is how global problems can be resolved in a world characterized by "multipolarization:" Power is shifting toward a larger number of actors while the world is experiencing increasing polarization both between and within many states.
Today's international order, the report argues, has elements of unipolarity, bipolarity, multipolarity and nonpolarity. "It depends on what you look at," commented Tobias Bunde during his presentation of the report. However, a shift in power towards a larger number of states who have the ability to influence key global issues is apparent. The shift in power is accompanied by increasing ideological polarization within and between states. In many countries, especially those of the so-called Global South, increasing multipolarity is associated with hope. However, the Munich Security Report argues that the negative consequences of multipolarity currently outweigh the positive ones – especially because multipolarity is accompanied by growing intra- and inter-state rifts. "The negative effects are prevailing, it’s the pessimist view of multipolarization that is materializing," said Sophie Eisentraut.
Plea for a broader understanding of security
In advance of Christoph Heusgen opening the panel discussion, Filippo Grandi spoke about a humanitarian understanding of security as a key element of the Munich Security Conference. He encouraged the audience and the guests to continue to deal with security challenges not only through a military, political, and economic lens, but to always consider the human angle. Humanitarian aid, which comes about through depolarized cooperation, argued Grandi, is in the interest of all states.
Challenges of the Liberal International Order and Reform Approaches
In the panel discussion that followed, Louise Mushikiwabo emphasized the urgency of reforms to the interna-tional order, but also pointed out the difficulties. Although there is a basic consensus within the international community on what should change, she argued, major powers that have little interest in serious reform regularly stand in the way of change: “We agree what should change, we aim to realize change for everybody. But something is blocking; it’s the bigger players who don’t care for more inclusivity.” Maryem van den Heuvel warned that more multipolarity currently meant less multilateralism. She appealed to the audience that multipolarity should not hinder international cooperation: “The interpretation of multipolarization should not paralyze us, it should rather activate the world, the states and civil society to contribute to structural change.” Wang Huiyao remarked that although the world was already multipolar, the international system was not. To change this, he suggested that the reform of the United Nations Security Council and other institutions should be modelled on the Group of 20 (G20), in which Western countries and countries of the Global South are represented in roughly equal numbers.
The debate on the consequences of multipolarization and the quest for alternative ways to strengthen international cooperation in a constantly changing world will continue in a few days at the 61st Munich Security Conference.
