From 15-17 February, IPS Executive Director Federica D’Alessandra attended the Munich Security Conference, the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers. The Forum has been running continuously since 1963 when it was first convened in the Cold War’s full swing.
Each year, the Forum brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges. The list of attendees includes Heads of States, Governments and International Organizations, Ministers, Members of Parliament, high-ranking representatives of Armed Forces, Science, Civil society as well as Business and Media.
This years’ Forum featured the theme ‘Westless in the West’, to highlight ‘a widespread feeling of uneasiness and restlessness in the face of increasing uncertainty about the enduring purpose of the West’. The agenda included discussions on the future of NATO and the European Union; trade and international security; arms control; and the implications of power struggles between the United States, China and Russia, including (and perhaps especially) in the cyber-domain.
