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A mounting tide of crises that reinforce each other threatens to overwhelm our societies and political systems. The Munich Security Report 2022 explores the emergence of a sense of “collective helplessness” in the face of a plethora of global challenges and stimulates the debate on how it can best be overcome.
Wolfgang Ischinger has been chairman of the Munich Security Conference since 2008. In his last year at the helm of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) journalists have been keen to hear Ischinger’s assessment of the current crisis with Russia. Follow it online here (in German).
“The trend towards the retreat of democracy continues. It is therefore not surprising that a feeling of helplessness seems to be growing in Europe and beyond,” said Ischinger. “More needs to be done to make people aware of the importance of deterrence as a method of conflict prevention,” he added, remarking that he was pleased that “Europe once again has a voice in the intensive diplomatic discourse”. After that, “it almost seemed like Europe would be reduced to a spectator role as others discussed both the crisis and how best to resolve it.”
The 2022 edition of the Munich Security Report covers security challenges in Afghanistan, the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa, and Eastern Europe, as well as risks posed by dependencies in the supply chains of critical technologies and by growing inequality. While the challenges are real, the report argues, the tools and resources needed to address them are, in fact, available. Transatlantic leaders need to revive the optimism and momentum palpable in the early days of the Biden administration. If they can “unlearn helplessness” and demonstrate that democracies can still deliver, they have a chance to turn the tide.
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The Munich Security Conference is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held since 1963. It is not an official government event, but a forum for informal and discrete discussions between the high-level international participants.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky will attend the international Munich Security Conference in Germany on 18–20 February 2022. About 35 heads of state and government to take part in the Munich Security Conference. The US is expected to be represented by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The German delegation will be led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Russian officials for various reasons won’t attend the Conference, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
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