Foreword

Dear Reader,

In the early years of the Munich Security Conference more than 60 years ago, the world was shaped by the bipolar confrontation between two rival camps. This focused the agenda of the Internationale Wehrkunde-Begegnung, as the conference was called back then, on deterrence and defense. While geopolitical confrontation has returned to Europe and to the agenda of the Munich Security Conference, it is obvious that almost everything else has changed.

Today, we live in a different world. It does not make sense to discuss European security in isolation of global trends. Nor can we discuss “hard” security without considering other important developments – ranging from advances in technology and changing economic relations to global warming – affecting security more broadly defined. Perhaps most importantly, more actors than ever before, well beyond just two superpowers, play important roles in the international order. Since I took over as chairman of the Munich Security Conference, it has been a priority for me to ensure that the debates in Munich reflect this emerging world, by inviting guests from a broader range of countries to share their perspectives.

While the world may not yet be truly multipolar (and perhaps never will be), we already live in a world shaped by “multipolarization,” as this year’s Munich Security Report argues. The notion of multipolarization describes both a global shift of power to a larger number of actors around the world as well as increasing polarization on the international and domestic levels. Focusing on a number of countries that are often considered (potential) “poles” in an emerging multipolar order, the authors show that there are different views about what a future order should look like – both among the key actors but also within them.

As many people around the world hope, a multipolar world could turn out to be fairer, more just, perhaps even more peaceful. But it could also reverse progress, fuel inequalities, damage human rights, constrain global problem-solving, and make war more likely. If we want to preserve common ground in a world shaped by more actors and increasing polarization, we all have to recommit to those rules laid down in the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that everyone has agreed to. A multipolar world must not become a world in which every pole acts as it pleases nor where the rule of law is undermined both internationally and at home.

As always, I would like to thank our various partners who shared analyses and contributed data or infographics to the report. I wish you a thought-provoking read!

Yours,
Ambassador Christoph Heusgen
Chairman of the Munich Security Conference