Saturday, February 16, 2019

THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE AS A PLATFORM FOR NGOS AND THINK TANKS









MSC 2019: THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE AS A PLATFORM FOR NGOS AND THINK TANKS

On Friday, the Munich Security Conference 2019 will once again bring together participants, NGOs, and research institutions at Hotel Bayerischer Hof. In addition to the main programm, more than one hundred side events will take place during the conference weekend to facilitate an open dialogue that discusses the most pressing global security issues.


A view of the main conference hall at Hotel Bayerischer Hof, the venue for MSC 2019. (Photo: MSC / Kuhlmann)


In addtion to the main program, some of these side events are directly organized by the Munich Security Conference (MSC), for instance, the Arctic Security Roundtable and the European Defence Roundtable. The Health Security Roundtable will discuss, for instance, the interplay between conflicts and the spread of diseases. Transnational security will be a further item on the agenda, forming part of a new MSC series on this subject.

Moreover, MSC partner organisations are hosting a number of events with different types of formats, including breakfast discussions or workshops. These events are also quite diverse with respect to their thematic focus, ranging from panel discussions on women empowerment to new initiatives on nuclear arms control. Having formed part of last year’s agenda already, the Town Hall format will become even more interactive this year as the audience can participate in the debate through the newly launched MSC App.

As in previous years, the MSC offers a platform to many renowned organizations, such as the United Nations, the German development agency GIZ, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or NATO, allowing them to host their own events and bring together high-level decision makers for discussions on current challenges to international security policy. The diversity of institutions is also reflected by the fact that many NGOs are actively present, such as Transparency International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robert Bosch Foundation, and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. These organisations are part of the MSC, just like major companies, such as Siemens, Microsoft, and Airbus. Furthermore, several renowned research institutions, such as Harvard University, will present new publications to the expert audience in Munich.

At the Munich Security Conference 2019, many events are targeted at a wider audience, thus allowing even non-MSC participants to experience some of the discussions at the conference. A case in point is the #MSC2019 event, the official opening event of the Munich Security Conference, which is open to the general public. Titled “From Cold War to Star Wars: How to Deal with the Arms Race to Space,” the dangers of a competition in space will be addressed. Moreover, the Security and Literature Series in cooperation with the Literaturhaus Munich will be continued and host, among other guests, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a discussion of her new book.

An overview of all events open to the public can be found here.




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